2018-2019 short track season recap : Hungary

After a successful first half of the season, the Hungarian team lost speed due to an injury to one of their most successful skaters.

By Florence Gauthier
Photo: Schaats Foto's

Here is our summary of a season filled with highs and lows for the Hungarian team.

Difficulties for the Liu brothers

Brothers Shaolin and Shaoang Liu kicked off the season with a total of five individual medals, two men's relay gold with Csaba Burjan, Cole Krueger and Alex Varnyu, in addition to a gold medal in the mixed relay with Sara Luca Bacskai and Petra Jaszapati. The second part of the season started well with the European Championships. Shaolin Liu climbed on the first step of the podium in the 1500m, as well as the second step in the 500m and the 1000m. Shaoang Liu won gold in the 500m and silver in the 1500m. The two brothers won the overall ranking with Shaolin placing first and Shaoang second. Things started falling apart at the fourth World Cup in Dresden, Germany. In his first race of the weekend, Shaoang Liu suffered a bad fall injuring his hand. His season ended there. Shaolin Liu won the silver medal in the 500m at the fifth World Cup in Turin, Italy. His overall ranking on the distance in the World Cup was fifth. After finishing second at the 2018 World Championships, expectations were high for the skater. He got a penalty on each of the individual distances. He finished twentieth in the 1500m, tenth in the 1000m and fourth in the 500m. In the overall standings, he climbed to tenth place. As for Csaba Burjan, he improved his World championships' rankings compared to 2018 in both the 1000m and 1500m. Going from twenty-fifth to twentieth on 1000m and twenty-sixth to thirteenth on 1500m.

Petra Jaszapati, a year of growth

Petra Jaszapati won her first World Cup medal in the first half of the season, a gold medal in the 500m at the third World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan. At the European Championships, she made the B final on each of the distances. She finished ninth in the overall ranking, an improvement over her thirteenth place in 2018. For the last two World Cups of the season, she finished seventh in the 1500m in Dresden and second of the B final on 500m in Turin. In the overall World Cup ranking, she finished fifth in the 500m, an improvement of six spots compared to the previous season. In the 1500m, she placed twentieth. At the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, her best distance was the 1000m with a fourteenth place finish. In 2018, she finished twenty-first overall. Last season, she improved by climbing to eighteenth overall.

A good year for relays

The women's relay team won its first and only bronze medal of the season at the European Championships. During this competition, the men's relay finished on the first step of the podium. In Dresden, the men won the silver medal, which helped them finish first overall in the World Cup ranking. At the World Championships, they managed to win the bronze medal, finishing just behind the Korean and Chinese teams. The Hungarians were able to offer great results on the first year of the mix relay event. They won silver in Dresden to finish fourth overall.

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