László Jeszenszky

László Jeszenszky’s sports career began in the Levente movement. In 1943 Jeszenszky won the national Levente championship in the 1,500 metres, before becoming the youth Budapest champion in the 800 metres a year later, and then winning his first steeplechase championship. At the association level he first competed for UTE, then later for Vasas ETO, Győri Vasas, Bp. Bástya, Bp. Vörös Lobogó and MTK. In 1947, in his first senior year, he finished second in the 3,000 metres steeplechase championship. Jeszenszky won five individual Hungarian championships in this distance. During his career he improved the Hungarian record nine times, and was the first in Hungary to achieve a time under nine minutes in the event.

Between 1948 and 1958 Jeszenszky competed for the Hungarian national team 30 times. His best result was in 1954 when he finished fifth in the 3,000 metres steeplechase at the European Championships in Bern. He also represented Hungary at two Olympics but failed to reach the finals in Helsinki and Melbourne. In 1960 he had to stop competing due to an injury, but he never left athletics.

In 1964 Jeszenszky obtained a coaching certificate. He coached at Bp. Postás for a while, and in 1967 he joined to the Hungarian Athletic Association, where he became the coach of the national middle-distance runners. He was a sports director between 1983 and 1988 and the secretary general of the Budapest Athletics Association in 1992.

Personal Best: 3000S – 8:40.8 (1956).