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In this series, we will introduce the athletes who have already confirmed their intent to participate in the 11th Gyulai István Memorial – Hungarian Grand Prix.

Let us start with the Hungarian athletes!

Our 39-year-old Olympic Champion, Krisztián Pars (PB 82.69) likes coming to Székesfehérvár. He competed at the National Team Championship semi-finals and finished second in Győr with a throw of 71.85 meters behind his clubmate, Bence Halász (76.42).

Krisztián was there at the beginning of the Grand Prix and won in 2011 (79.37). In 2012, when he was introduced as an Olympic Champion, he defended his title at the Népstadion, throwing 79.74 meters. He went on to win in 2013 (80.73) and 2014 (82.49), while he finished second in 2015 (79.23) behind Paweł Fajdek, who won with a 83.12 meter meet record which has not been topped since then. In 2016 and 2017, Krisztián finished ninth (70.74, 73.02), then missed the Memorial in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, he returned from his injury and finished eighth with 70.59. If everything goes according to plan, he will compete at the Grand Prix for the ninth time. Krisztián can still qualify for the Olympics based on the world rankings, at the time of the writing of this article, he occupies the 33th place.

Hungarian Champion of the 800 metres, Balázs Vindics (PB 1:46.18) also plans to attend the competition. Since 2016, he has been virtually unbeatable in this distance in Hungary, but he also has a national title in the 1500 metres and 4X400 relay as well. He broke a 21-year-old indoor national record at the BOK Arena in February. He came in third in the 400 metres at the National Team Championship Semis (48.96 SB), won the 800 metres with a season best 1:52.71, came in fifth in the 1500 metres (3:59.64 SB), then helped the 4X400 relay to the second place. In last year’s Gyulai István Memorial, he set a personal best (1:16.84) in the 600 metres and came in third behind Donovan Brazier (1:15.07) and Wesley Vázquez (1:15.31). The athlete of UTE is currently 41th on the world rankings with 1180 points, the qualifiers for the Olympics will be named on July 1.

– It is a great feeling to break a record, but sooner or later, all records will be broken, so it is not a priority – he stated in one of his interviews.

Diána Lesti (PB 6.58) is also set to attend. She won the long jump at the National Team Championship semi-finals beating Anasztázia Nguyen (6.24) and Xénia Krizsán (5.94) and she also prevailed at the Hungarian Indoor Nationals. Dia competed in Székesfehérvár last year as well and finished third (6.65 +5.0) behind Nastassia Mironchik-Ivanova and Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk.

We will also see Róbert Szikszai (PB 65.20) at the competition, who won the bronze medal at the 2017 Universiade. He is a former U20 European Champion and has a bronze medal from the U23 European Championships. Currently, he is 41st on the world rankings.

Hammer thrower, Dániel Rába (PB 73.85) will also compete in Székesfehérvár. The U23 European Championship bronze medallist competed in several events at the National Team Championship semi-finals: he achieved the best result in the hammer throw, where he finished third (70.75) behind Bence Halász (76.42) and Krisztián Pars (71.85), but he also participated in the shot put and discus.

Now on to the foreign athletes!

The 100 metres will feature Michael Rodgers (PB 9.85) from the United States, who won the World Championships in 2019 as a member of the 4X100 relay team. He also won six Diamond League competitions, one Pan American Games and five National Championships – two in the 100 and three in the 60 metres. Rodgers, who already secured his qualification for the Olympics, won the 100 metres at the Gyulai Memorial in 2018 and finished third in 2016. Last year, he competed in the 200 metres and came in seventh.

Last year’s 100 metres hurdles winner, Nadine Wisser will return to Székesfehérvár. In 2020, she beat Hungarian Luca Kozák for the gold, who broke the Hungarian National Record (12.71). Nadine ran the season’s best indoor time in 2021 and won the previous two indoor European Championships.

Her compatriot, Dafne Schippers (PB 21.63) will participate in the 200 metres at the Gyulai Memorial in 2021. Dafne is a two-time World and four-time European Champion. She also has an Olympic silver medal, four medals from the World Championships – one of them from heptathlon and one indoor – and nine European Championship medals, so she is a real superstar.

Hammer thrower, Alexandra Tavernier (PB 75.38) will also return. She won the event in 2019 and 2020. The French athlete holds the national record, won the Team European Championship in 2019 (72.81) and is a former U20 World Champion.

Staying with hammer throwers: Wojciech Nowicki (PB 81.85) is also likely to return. He won in Székesfehérvár in 2020 (78.07), beating Bence Halász by seven centimetres.

Maria Andrejczyk (PB 71.40) is also expected to attend. The former volleyball player’s mother was a shot putter, but her best event is the javelin throw. She won this event at the European Throwing Cup (71.40) with the third best result of all time. She is a three-time national champion (2016, 2019, 2020) and a former U20 European Champion.

Ashley Spencer (PB 53.11) is set to compete in the 400 metres hurdles. Spencer, who is a regular member of the United States’ 4X400 relay, is an indoor (2016) and outdoor (2013) World Champion and two-time Diamond League winner. She will have to compete with Lea Sprunger (PB 54.06) to win in Székesfehérvár. The swiss hurdler is a European Champion (2018) and three-time Diamond League winner (2013, 2015, 2018).

In the men’s 400 metres hurdles event, David Kendziera (PB 48.42) is likely to compete. He won last year beating Rasmus Mägi (50.18) and Máté Koroknai (50.69).

American Clayton Murphy, who took home bronze from the Rio Olympics, will headline the men’s 800 metres.

The first part of the series can be found here.