I may not have been in peak form, but I arrived at the competition in particularly good shape. I felt great both in the qualification and in the semifinal. I especially enjoyed the semifinal, which was held in around 20°C weather. During the laser run, I felt much stronger than usual, which gave me a lot of confidence. Then came the final, where the maximum number of Hungarian athletes allowed by the rules qualified (Andris Gáll, Boti Tamás, Bazsi Szép, and myself). Although the heat was around 30°C again, I tried to focus on other things.
I started the final with some sharp fencing (I only lost in the final) and an excellent OCR performance both in feeling and results (posting the fastest time among the finalists). Although my swimming still wasn’t outstanding, I was able to start the laser run with a 12-second advantage. I led for two laps, but my shooting wasn’t as accurate as usual, so by the third lap my Ukrainian competitor, Yuriy Kovalchuk, had taken the lead.
In the fourth lap, I worked together with another Ukrainian athlete, and after the final shooting series I managed to leave the shooting range in second place and head into the last running lap. I was closely chased by the always fast French athlete Mourcia, but gritting my teeth I managed to hold him off, and in the end I crossed the finish line in second place with a convincing margin—extremely happy. A barrier was broken, a dream came true: I won an individual medal at the European Championships.
I would like to thank everyone who has stood by me so far and continues to support me on my journey. I have learned so much from you, and I owe you a great deal—I hope you feel that this beautiful silver medal is yours as well. I will try to thank everyone personally, but I’m sure you already know how grateful I am to all of you.
The work doesn’t stop—there is still room for improvement in almost every discipline, but I can already feel that we are on the right path. The next competition will be the World Championships in about a month. Please cheer for me then as well!
Let’s keep pushing forward! 🇭🇺
Misi Koleszár