Gold, silver and fifth place – Luca Eckler never thought he would end his Paralympics with such success

Luca Eckler finished the Paris Paralympics with a gold, a silver, a European record and a fifth place. Great interview.

Defending the title in the long jump? Pipe. Silver medal in the 400m flat with a European record? Pipe. Plus another fifth place in the 100m? Pipe.

luka ekler He was able to return home from the Paris Paralympics as one of Hungary's most successful athletes. We talked to him about his initial goals, number three, the conditions and racing in the rain.

You competed in three events in Paris, finishing 5th in the 100m T38, defending your long jump title, and taking silver in the 400m flat (T38) with a European record. Let's crunch the numbers! How would you rate your performance and results in the 100m?
Overall, my goal was to finish the Paralympics with more success than I did in Tokyo. And that wasn't achieved in the 100m alone. I have to say that it started very well, and I reached the final after a particularly good run in the heats and an encouraging time.
However, the qualifiers and finals were a bit too close for me, I didn't have enough time to rest, and I felt it. Before the final, my legs were a bit stiffer than they should have been, and I didn't start well. For me, it's 50-50, I either do well or do very badly. This is probably one of my biggest weaknesses, which my coach Laszlo Zalma and I have been working on a lot over the last year or two.
I wasn't entirely satisfied with my result in the 100m, and I wouldn't have made it to the podium, but I probably would have finished one place higher if I had run similar or better than my time in the morning.

With a score of 5.56 meters, you won the gold medal in the long jump by a large margin. How did you face the final held in the rain?
Four days before the long jump final, I already saw that it was going to rain, so I was already trying to prepare myself for it. It rained on everyone. That's why we train at home in all kinds of conditions, because bad weather can happen even at the most important moment of a world competition.
However, starting at 6am in the dark and in heavy rain is not the best, the rain made the warm-up very difficult, in fact keeping myself warm during the race was the most difficult task.
But with each jump I was able to rule out the possibility of rain quite well, and I figured I had to make the most of it, and that was all I cared about.

“I scored three goals, I succeeded in one of them, and the title defense, the Paralympic summit and the World Summit did not come together,” I thought afterwards. What was missing for you to achieve the other two badges?
One of my three goals, which was to defend the title, was achieved. I felt that this was my main and most important goal. That's why I went, this is the race I can compete in with the most confidence.
We watched the marathon final in the long jump, several factors made the competition difficult, one of the measuring cameras broke down, then we were left waiting as many results were announced. After my first two jumps, I thought I won, then I had four entry jumps, where I completely allowed myself to enter the board, and unfortunately, my jumps went in.
However, I always felt that the distance was within me. I hoped that I could break at least one of the Paralympic and world peaks. The difficulty here was that I had to compete with myself in every jump, as well as a bit with the conditions.

At the Olympic Games, the ringing of the winner's bell at the Stade de France was a huge success among the Olympic champions. What was your experience like?
It was an amazing experience! This crowned my long jump victory. It's not called the winner's bell for nothing, I knew athletes before me who had rung that bell at the Olympics and Paralympics. I'm incredibly proud to be one of them.
For most of the competition I had all social media deleted from my phone, but after the long jump I looked at it and one of the comments was: “If it were up to me, I would take the bell with me.”.
It was all really in that noise, all the hardships and happiness that had built up inside me in the last few years.
My other favourite comment was that – even though I didn't know at the time that we had already won five medals – I rang the bell five times, for each Hungarian medallist. That day was incredible.

Colombian Tatiana Palomeque Moreno won the world record in the 400m in front of you. You were the world champion in this track last year, but you probably don't feel like you're missing out.
At this year's World Championships, I didn't compete in the 400m in Kobe, where the Colombian, who came from a lower class than us, set a world record of 59:40. I was already in Eugene at the Diamond League at the time, and I saw that it was very bad from him. When I watched his training, it was also clear that he was preparing for the one-lap distance.
I expected him to win in Paris with a space time that no one in this category has ever been able to run. Both the qualifying and the world record 100 showed that he was in very good shape. I was saying, I will go with him as long as I can, and I will fight for the best possible position.
But for me, this silver medal and the fact that I was able to run within his previous world record – which also became a European record – is a great pleasure, and I can at least put this silver next to the long jump gold.
We put in an incredible amount of work with my coaches and training partners, who I want to thank very much, because without them it certainly wouldn't have worked. Especially since they also ran the longer partial distances with me as a long jumper to prepare for the 400m, both at the end of training and during training camp.

Your family and friends also supported you there in Paris. What does that mean to you?
My family, my partner and my friends were able to be with me in Paris, and that meant everything to me. Many times they gave me a boost that helped me get through a dead end. It was great to be able to look to them, they were there for me in the little disappointments I had after 100 metres, and I could always count on them.
At times like this, I think they were with me in the hospital, and since then they haven't let me go for a single moment. They support me in everything, they stand by me, and I'm so grateful that they take me wherever they can as a backcountry. They're always the first people I call after a race, whether it's good or bad.
Potti, my youngest brother who plays water polo, was there the whole time, and Bindi was in the 400, and unfortunately Zsombe couldn't catch up with them.
It's a pleasure that after the 400m we were able to go to dinner together and celebrate and toast the gold and silver medals. I love them very much.

How did you accept not being included in the IPC Athletes Commission despite having received enough votes?
I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to run for the IPC Athletes Commission. It is a great result for me to come in sixth place based on the votes. I am grateful that so many athletes voted for me.
Two athletes graduated before me, and because of that I couldn't join the athletes' committee, so I succeeded. I am very happy that two athletes who have already reached the end of their careers will be members, and I believe they can do a lot for disabled and special needs sports.
It's good because for the next four years I can keep my focus clear on racing, and I can focus on what I'm best at. I want to compete, to improve, to show what I can do. Maybe this is a sign that I still have enough time to join the sports committee.