The greatest Hungarian sports achievements of 2018
Hungary was not only the host of several prestigious sports events in 2018 but was successful both at home and at foreign fields. Let us revise the most important moments of each month.
January
The Tímea Babos (HUN) & Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) duo ranked 5th, defeating the Yekaterina Makarova & Yelena Vesnina (RUS) duo at the women’s doubles’ final of the Australian Open. More than 30 years have passed since the last Hungarian victory at a Grand Slam.
February
At the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, the Hungarian short track speed skating team left us all speechless. The Hungarian men’s team became a world champion, placing first at the men’s 5000 metres. Without a doubt, the short track speed skaters were the most successful at this event: the women’s team placed fourth, Sándor Liu Shaolin placed fifth both on 500 metres and 1500 metres, while Petra Jászapáti placed sixth on 1500 metres.
https://www.facebook.com/EurosportHU/videos/1192354207565517/
March
The European Capitals and Cities of Sports Federation (ACES) awarded Budapest the European Capital of Sports title in 2019. This is a tremendous honour to the Hungarian capital which also shows that this year is going to be outstanding in the history of Budapest.
May
Hungary won three silver and one bronze medals at the sixth meet of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series. Even though in the Solo Technical Final both the second and third places were won by Hungarians, only the silver went actually to us, due to regulations (only one person can stand on the podium from each country).
June
Hungarian teams won 15 medals during the 2018 ECA Canoe Sprint European Championship in Belgrade, Serbia. We got 6 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals, placing us at the top of the medal table
July
The Hungarian women’s handball team got into the finals at the World Handball Championships thrice in this century but lost at the first two instances (2001 and 2003). Finally, in 2018, they have scored 28-22 against Norway. They also won all eight of the matches they have played.
August
At the European Championships organised in Glasgow, Kristóf Rasovszky, a Hungarian swimmer won both the 5K and the 25K race, only missing the gold by millimetres at the 10K race. This achievement was a world record, as no one before Rasovszky has managed to win a medal at all three open-water numbers.
Boglárka Dévai has succeeded in winning the vault in Glasgow at the 2018 European Championships with her amazing and outstanding performance – 20 years after the last Hungarian success in 1998. She has performed the most challenging pose of the Championships, worth altogether 14.633 points in the finals.
September
The professional Hungarian World Champion, Renáta Rákóczi could prove her abilities in Elverum, Norway at the WAKO Pro World Championships. The champion successfully won the contest against Kristin Vollstadt, a former World Champion from Norway. Her result is especially outstanding because she was the first to compete and win in the new, 12-round system of kick-box.
October
The Hungarian tennis star Tímea Babos became a world champion tennis player for the second time. She competed alongside the French Kristina Mladenovic against the Czech Barbora Krejcíková and Katerina Siniaková at the World Tennis Association Finals. The Hungarian-French duo beat the Czech duo for 6:4, 7:5 at an 86 minutes long match.
At the first World University Cheerleading Championship, the Hungarian team became a world champion. While cheerleading teams representing several Hungarian universities have proved themselves to the world on competitions and with their creativity, it is the first time that a national university cheerleading group was assembled.
November
The Olympic champion men short track speed skating team have won the speed skating series’ Calgary event with a world record. Besides, Shaoang Liu won the gold medal on the 1000-metre race, while his brother, Sándor Shaolin Liu, got to third place in the category of the shortest distance.
A Hungarian martial artist, Botond Nagy, set up a new karate Guinness World Record at the 24th World Senior Championships in Madrid. He beat the previous record holder’s 0.70 seconds roundhouse kick to 0.476, making him the fastest roundhouse kicker in the world.
December
Even though the Hungarian MOL Vidi FC did not manage to go through in the Europa League, their match with the British Chelsea team ended in a 2-2 draw.
featured image: facebook/Shaolin Sándor Liu
Source: Daily News Hungary