József Merényi

József Merényi first emerged in Hungarian national competition in 1946, and would remain active on that level for 15 years. His first breakthrough came in 1949, placing 4th at the national championships and qualifying for the international tournaments. His first national title came in 1950, following the defection of Kornél Pajor to Sweden. Through 1960, Merényi would add five more allround titles (1950-53, 1955-56), as well as four second places. At international allround championships, he never managed to qualify for the final distance, with the 1949 17th rank in the European Championships as his best performance. He qualified for the 1952 Olympics, where he contested four distances, and placed in the bottom half for all of them with a 17th place in the 10,000 m as his top rank. In 1949, Merényi won three titles at the World Academic Winter Games in Špindlerův Mlýn. Skating for Budapest club MTK, Merényi later coached there, with Zsolt Baló as his best known pupil.

Personal Bests: 500 – 45.8 (1961); 1500 – 2:19.9 (1956); 5000 – 8:32.5 (1955); 10000 – 17:41.9 (1955).