Hungarian Bronze at the World Athletics Championships

Hungarian hammer thrower Bence Halász won the bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Sunday. It was the second time that he could stand on the podium at the World Championships, having finished third in Doha in 2019, reports Hirado.hu.

Halász started with 80.82 meters in the final amidst the cheers of 30,000 spectators. When the hammer landed beyond the 80 meter line, the stadium almost exploded. He threw over 80 meters for the first time at the World Championships in Eugene last year, and his personal best of 80.92 was set at the European Championships in Munich.

After the first round, the Hungarian athlete led the stage, with Ethan Katzberg of Canada and five-time world champion Pawel Fajdek of Poland behind him.

Bence Halász hit the net in the second round and reached 81.02 meters in the third, after which he ran out to his coach, delighted to have beaten his personal best. However, the judges indicated that the attempt was invalid.

The Hungarian competitor went over 80 again in the fourth round (80.59), but Nowicki took the lead with 80.83. In the fifth set, the 21-year-old Katzberg from Canada came in and took the lead with 81.25 meters. Nowicki responded with 81.02 but remained second. Halász continued with 79.94. In the final round, the order of the top three remained unchanged.

Bence Halász won the 15th World Championships medal for Hungarian athletics.

“There was everything in today’s competition, but overall I can be satisfied with the final result,” said 26-year-old Bence Halász at the press conference. He added that around May-June he would not have expected to make so many 80m throws in the World Championships final. He noted that he thought his 81.02m throw, which was subsequently taken away, was valid but would not have changed the order. He highlighted that the love and cheers of the crowd were a huge pressure, but he was more confident than in Saturday’s qualifying.

His coach, Zsolt Németh, pointed out that if the warm-up throws are taken into account, Bence Halász had six of the ten biggest throws of his life today.

Also on Sunday, there was another Hungarian result, although it was not a podium finish.

Xénia Krizsán moved up three places in the women’s heptathlon with a superb 800 run to finish fourth,

while Rita Nemes finished the two-day event in tenth place on Sunday at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, reports Nemzeti Sport.

Krizsán finished with a total of 6479 points, just one point below the Olympic qualifying standard. Overall, she missed the podium by 22 points.

The heptathlon was won by Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain with 6740 points, 20 points ahead of Anna Hall of the USA. The bronze medal went to Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands (6501).

Featured photo via MTI/Illyés Tibor