Opening image: MTI Photo: MOB / Péter Szalmás
He entered the SUP (Stand up paddle) European Championship in Szeged our Olympic champion canoeist, Attila Vajda. The 41-year-old athlete won the gold medal in the C-1 1000 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and has been the last Olympic champion of Hungarian canoeing ever since. Vajda is currently working as a coach in his own sports association, and this motivated him to try himself as a competitor in a new genre.
“I think that I can only remain authentic if I myself get on the board and compete and try to improve. If I want to teach, it is essential that I also experience inner feelings that I can then pass on more easily”
– said the athlete, who founded the Attila Vajda Sports Association in 2020, where he teaches children. According to Vajda, SUP has a great future, so in their association they want to place as much emphasis on the increasingly popular discipline as possible, and for this purpose they are trying to create a SUP environment in the southern part of Ráckevei (Soroksári)-Danube
Attila Vajda redeemed his competitor’s license last year and again this year, on the one hand, because he tries to exercise as much as possible in order to maintain his physical freshness, and on the other hand, because he wants to collect as many points as possible for the association. Although he was one of the best in the sport of canoeing, even he has to familiarize himself with the technical challenges of SUP.
“Obviously, it’s like kayaking or canoeing, so there are unique techniques and peculiarities. I need to learn the basics that I will be able to pass on to both children and adults during education.”
Vajda SE will start with two competitors on June 12-16. between Szeged ECA Gyorasági, Para Kayak-Canoe & SUP European Championships: with Attila Vajda and Dr. Zoltán Németh. Both competitors entered the long distance, the technical track, and the 200-meter sprint race.
“I want them to see that I’m not just the coach who might give training from a motorboat or from the shore, but I can also present it if necessary. I try to support and strengthen our athletes a little. Sometimes I sit or kneel next to them and row with them in pairs. I would like to make them feel that there is not such a distance between the coach and the competitor, and that I can do what I ask.” concluded the last Olympic champion of Hungarian canoeing.
And what does a SUP competition look like? Like this:
The special feature of the European Championship, which is returning to Hungary after 22 years, is that for the first time there will also be a competition in the SUP discipline, for which anyone can submit their entries on the szeged2024.hu website.
Tags: Olympic champion canoeist Attila Vajda start European Championships age canoe
