Bence Halász won the bronze medal in the hammer throw at the Gyulai István Memorial – Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix with his biggest throw of the year.
Good sign before the restroom: Hunter Bence gave his best shot of the season at the Gyulai Monument
A strong team gathered in the first competition of the Continental Tour Gold Series, where, among others, the reigning Olympic champion, Polish Wojciech Nowicki, his compatriot, five-time world champion Pawel Weidek, Tokyo silver medalist Eivind Henriksen, and, of course, Pence Halasz also got into the throwing circle.
At the end of the third round of the competition, which was held in sweltering heat and strong winds, it became clear that Vaidik, a four-time Szekesfehervar winner – and record holder with 83.12 metres – was definitely not going to increase his number of successes this year. The following year, all three of his attempts were invalid, so he was eliminated from further competitions.
Defending Olympic champion Nowicki and Henriksen, who followed him in the standings in Tokyo, were not having the best of days either, nor was Ukrainian Mykhaylo Kukan, who won the European Under-23 Championship in Espoo, Finland, on Saturday, who won the Gyulai for the second time after 2021 with a score 79.37 souvenir.
In the end, Nowicki finished on the second step of the podium with a score of 77.89, with Pence Halach only a few centimeters behind the pole who improved on his last attempt.
The World Championships bronze medalist started with an invalid attempt, but then got on the scoreboard with 75.91 (he would have finished third), and then in the third round he threw the hammer to 77.82 metres, which he knocked down with the best set of the year at the national championships and took Bronze medal.
Petra Panhedi Farkas also won bronze in the long jump on Tuesday, which led to a close contest, with three Hungarians reaching the quarter-finals, with Panhedi Farkas performing the best with a third place finish and a jump of 6.66 metres.
Nigeria’s Essie Broome took second place, and the win went to Serbian Milica Jardasevic, who also won last year.
Cover Photo:
Budapest, July 8, 2023. Bence Halach in the men’s hammer throw final at the 128th Hungarian Athletics Championships at the National Sports Center on July 8, 2023. MTI/Koszticsák Solid
