Organizers of the Gyulai István Memorial – Hungarian Athletics GP, named after one of the most well-known and well-respected Hungarian sports diplomats, former secretary general of the IAAF, announced today four global champions and four home stars for the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting that will be held on 9 July in Székesfehérvár, Hungary.
All of them are very familiar with the venue and the meeting.
Olympic 400 m champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas is a no less than five time winner in Székesfehérvár. The first time he competed there was back in 2015 when the youngster banged with a 44.27 sec meeting record. Since then he has been a returning star of the event and in 2023 he not only improved his own MR to an impressive 43.74 seconds, but became also the winner of the prestigious Dr. Bojidar Spiriev Trophy, offered for the Athlete who achieves the best performance of the meeting.
With this special trophy, since its very beginning, the Gyulai István Memorial – Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix has been paying tribute to the memory of Dr. Bojidar Spiriev, the inventor of the IAAF (now World Athletics) Scoring Tables and creator of the basics of the World Rankings system.
At a previous press conference, three-time 110 m hurdles world champion and 60 m hurdles world record holder Grant Holloway of the USA has said for him it feels like going home to Hungary. No wonder as this meeting was his first professional competition after finishing his college career in 2019. The same year he won gold at the World Championships in Doha and the rest is already history. The American star has been a frequent participant of the meeting ever since.
Another superstar loving Hungary is Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi. After recovering from a severe injury that he suffered in 2016, he arrived “secretly” to the Hungarian meeting in July 2017. He was 3rd with a 2.28m jump then and it helped him re-finding his self-confidence. This will be his fifth participation at the meeting but already returns as an Olympic, World and European champion. The fan favourite “Gimbo” even held his bachelor party in Hungary in 2022 before winning gold at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
Starting the 2021 season, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico was already an excellent athlete, but internationally she was yet to make a name. Then she had some good wins at invitational meets and arrived to Székesfehérvár as her last appearance before the Olympic Games. She won with an impressive 12.34 time and then in Tokyo she claimed the Olympic title.
Therefore, the organizers like reminding athletes that it seems to be a good sign doing well at the Gyulai István Memorial before the Olympics…
Besides the four returning global champions, the meeting organizers announced four home stars, too.
Bence Halász – Hammer Throw, two-time world championships bronze medallist (2019, 2023)
Luca Kozák – 100 m Hurdles, European championships silver medallist (2022)
Attila Molnár – 400 m, 5th at the 2024 World Indoor Championships
Boglárka Takács – 100m, 200m, U23 European silver medallist (2023), national record holder in all sprint events
The program of the meeting includes 16 international events, 5 national disciplines an U16 mixed relay and a children’s relay.