János Szerényi

János Szerényi started to take distance running seriously relatively late at the age of 22, achieving fifth place in the 1960 Hungarian Army cross-country running championship during his military service. He first competed for Bp. Honvéd, then joined Vasas in 1965. Thanks to his continuous development he finished seventh in the 10,000 metres at the 1966 European Championships in Budapest. His most successful year was 1968 when he qualified for the Olympics with a personal best of 28:50, where he finished 20th in the 10,000 meters. That same year he also won the Hungarian championship title in this distance, with him winning eight Hungarian championship titles during his career.

After his retirement he worked as a coach in Pasarét, where his student, Gábor Molnár, won the Hungarian championship title in the 800 meters. In 1972 he had the honor of running with the Olympic flame in the Hungarian leg of the relay.

Personal Best: 10000 – 28:49.0 (1968).