János Patak

János Patak’s first affiliation was the Typographia Sports Club. In 1906, he already competed as a race walker but also still in sprint races. Subsequently, he focussed on race walking and transferred to MTK Budapest in 1908. In the following years, he had podiums at various podiums at national level. At the time, race walking competitions mostly covered distances of up to 10 km. In 1912, he was entered for the 10 km event at the Stockholm Olympics but did not start.

Patak then became a member of Ferencvárosi Torna Club (FTC), where the race walkers were the most successful track and field athletes after the inauguration of their new stadium. After some years without reported results, probably due to World War I, Patak returned to the track and in 1919 won his only two medals at the Hungarian Championships over 3,000 m and 10 km, respectively, both times behind his teammate Péter Szablár. It is worth noting that race walking events were not held at the Hungarian Championships between 1914 and 1917.