Hungarian double as Szalai beats Knibb and Lehmann wins six in a row at Tiszaújváros

Fanni Szalai underlined why she is one of triathlon’s brightest young talents with her first ever World Cup win in Tiszaújváros.

And the Hungarian 18-year-old needed to beat one of the world’s best in the shape of American Taylor Knibb, racing her first World Cup event since 2019.

On a memorable day for Hungary they netted a double as Csongor Lehmann made it six victories on the trot in his home soil event by landing the men’s race once again.

Women’s race – Trio boss it

It was an incredible field for the women’s race in particular – Knibb, the double Olympic medallist and three-time 70.3 World Champion, making a spontaneous call to travel to Hungary.

Also there was Sweden’s Tilda Månsson, fresh off a maiden WTCS win in Yokohama and a silver medal in Quiberon who won here in 2023 and was runner-up last year.

It was Knibb and Szalai who bossed it from the start though as they led the swim along with Tara Sosinski (AUS).

That trio worked brilliantly together on the bike, with newly-crowned USA champ Knibb the driving force.

They had a 16 seconds advantage after the swim and that just went up and up on the eight bike laps – 1:11 at halfway and then 2:15 by T2.

The only thing Knibb didn’t nail was the transitions and that allowed Szalai to get a flyer from T2 and she never looked back.

She was 19 seconds up after the first of four 1.25km laps, 27 seconds at halfway, 36 seconds at the bell and then 51 seconds by the line.

Behind Knibb was Sosinski who took a deserved third while Diana Isakova (AIN) came out of the distant chase pack for fourth.

Szalai wins tizzy 2026 — Fanni Szalai [Photo credit: World Triathlon]

“It’s magical – I’m just so glad for all the Hungarian cheers, they pushed me when I needed it,” said Szalai afterwards.

“I have no words, I did not expect to win. It feels amazing that I could do this in front of my family and friends.

“Taylor was the strongest on the bike and I just tried to hang on.”

Knibb said: “That was fun for me as I return to short course. I’m still finding my feet as you can see from my transitions. But it’s about seeing where I’m at and what I need to work on – thank you to my coaches for letting me do that.

“We have this two month gap before I begin my Kona build so we can have some fun and try things and this was quite spontaneous.

“I hope that was fun for people to watch rather than just one big bike group.

Men’s race – Six for Lehmann

Meanwhile the men’s race saw Lehmann extend his remarkable winning sequence.

His compatriot Márk Dévay led the swim and that created a five-man front group but Lehmann worked superbly with Spain’s Pelayo Gonzalez Turrez and the two bridged up.

The now-seven kept away from the rest on the bike and the on the run Lehmann nudged ahead early on and saw off France’s Tom Lerno for a hard-fought win.

“Maybe this was the hardest [of the six],” said Lehmann afterwards. “We pushed hard on the bike and the heat was insane but at least on the run it was only seven guys.

“I just tried to push from the beginning of the run and didn’t look back until the last lap when I saw I had a few seconds.

“Winning six times in a row in my home town, I really have no words.

Tiszaújváros results

Finals on Sunday 28 June 2026 – 750m, 20km, 5km

WOMEN

Position	Athlete	Nationality	Swim	Bike	Run	Overall
1	Fanni Szalai	HUN	9:10	29:57	16:33	57:10
2	Taylor Knibb	USA	9:07	29:58	17:19	58:00
3	Tara Sosinski	AUS	9:07	30:01	18:03	58:37
4	Diana Isakova	RUS	9:26	31:53	16:51	59:43
5	Danielle Orie	USA	9:51	31:37	16:52	59:47

MEN

Position	Athlete	Nationality	Swim	Bike	Run	Overall
1	Csongor Lehmann	HUN	0:08:28	0:27:43	0:14:46	0:52:11
2	Tom Lerno	FRA	0:08:18	0:27:48	0:14:54	0:52:22
3	Pelayo González Turrez	ESP	0:08:26	0:27:43	0:15:01	0:52:30
4	Márk Dévay	HUN	0:08:16	0:27:48	0:15:14	0:52:40
5	Jules Rethoret	FRA	0:08:21	0:27:48	0:15:20	0:52:48

FEATURED