WikiMini

Matej Tóth

Matej Tóth
Tóth in 2016
Personal information
Born (1983-02-10) 10 February 1983 (age 42)
Nitra, Czechoslovakia
Years active1995–2021
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
Sport
Country Slovakia
SportAthletics
Event50 km Race Walk
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro 50 km walk
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Beijing 50 km walk
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2014 Zürich 50 km walk
Silver medal – second place 2018 Berlin 50 km walk
World Race Walking Cup
Gold medal – first place 2010 Chihuahua 50 km walk

Matej Tóth (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmacej ˈtɔːt]; born 10 February 1983) is a retired Slovak race walker. He won the 50 km walk World Championship in 2015, and became an Olympic champion in the same event in 2016.

Career

[edit]

Tóth won the gold medal in the 50 km walk at the 2010 IAAF World Race Walking Cup held in Chihuahua, Mexico, finishing with the slowest winning time since 1993.[1]

He finished first at the 2015 World Championships, taking Slovakia's first ever gold at the championships and completing the course two minutes ahead of his nearest rival.[2]

Tóth finished first at the 2016 Olympic Games in 50 km walk with a time of 3 hours, 40 minutes and 58 seconds,[3] winning the first Slovak Olympic medal in athletics since the country's independence in 1993.[4]

Tóth was the 2016 Slovak Athlete of the Year,[5] winning the award for the fourth consecutive time, and fifth time overall, that year.[6] Tóth closed the year out by winning the Sportsperson of the Year award in December 2016, ahead of cyclist Peter Sagan and tennis player Dominika Cibulková.[7] He added a sixth Athlete of the Year title in 2018.[8]

In 2018, Tóth won a silver medal in the men's 50 kilometres walk at the 2018 European Athletics Championships held in Berlin, Germany.[9] In 2019, he competed in the men's 50 kilometres walk at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar, but did not finish the race.[10]

Toth represented Slovakia at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished 14th in the men's 50 kilometres walk with a season's best.[11] The race, the sixteenth time he had competed over 50 kilometres, was his final competitive venture before retiring from the sport after a career spanning 26 years.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Lopes, Luís (16 May 2010). "Eslovaco Matej Tóth vence na Taça do Mundo de marcha". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  2. ^ "Matej Toth wins Slovakia's first ever world gold with 50km walk victory". Athletics Weekly. 29 August 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  3. ^ "Rio Olympics 2016: Matej Toth of Slovakia wins 50km walk in Rio". BBC Sport. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  4. ^ "Slovakia wins its first athletic Olympic medal". The Slovak Spectator (in Slovak). 19 August 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  5. ^ Juck, Alfons (26 November 2006). "Toth selected Slovak athlete of the year". IAAF. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  6. ^ "Race walker Matej Tóth becomes 5-time Athlete of the Year". Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  7. ^ Bublinec, Jaroslav (23 December 2016). "Olympic Walking Champion Matej Toth Beats Sagan as Athlete of Year". TASR. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  8. ^ "Toth crowned Slovak Athlete of the Year for a sixth time". European Athletics. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  9. ^ "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Men's 50 kilometres walk – Final" (PDF). 2019 World Athletics Championships. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Athletics - Final Results". Olympics. Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Chodec Matej Tóth ukončil kariéru so cťou, po náročných olympijských pretekoch v Sappore odmietol aj pojazdné kreslo". Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee (in Slovak). 6 August 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
[edit]
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Sportsperson of Slovakia
2016 		Succeeded by