Péter Szablár

After Péter Szablár moved to Budapest with his family as a child, he was first introduced to sports. In the beginning, he played football with BSE in 1904 and represented MUE as a sprinter in 1906. In 1907, he started race walking in the colours of BSC soon winning his first race. Two years later, he joined BTC and won his first two Hungarian titles in the 10 and 30 km race walking events. In 1910, he joined FTC, the final destination of his sporting career. In 1912, he won gold again in the 10 km and in 1913 repeated the feat of winning both events. He was entered for the 10 km at the Stockholm Olympics but did not start.

World War I interrupted Szablár’s career. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army and was awarded a medal for bravery in 1918. After the war, he returned to the track and was soon the country’s top race walker again. Between 1919 and 1922, he won the Hungarian Championships in the 3 km, 10 km, and 30 km events for four consecutive years. He repeated two victories in the following year but was defeated for the first time over the shortest distance by one of his clubmates. In 1924, he tried to qualify for the Paris Olympics but was beaten in the trials by Mihály Fekete, who had returned to Hungary after living in Canada and the United States for a decade. Subsequently, Szabkár retired from race walking at the age of 37 after 19 Hungarian championships and numerous Hungarian records.

Szablár also served on his club’s executive committee and was awarded the title of “Eternal Champion of FTC” in 1925. Only one year later, he died while he was walking on the Buda embankment of the Danube suffering a heart attack. Szablár was an official working for the Royal Hungarian Post and was the father of two children.