Matej Tóth

Matej Tóth
Tóth in 2016
Personal information
Born (1983-02-10) 10 February 1983
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
2016 Rio de Janeiro 50 km walk
World Championships
2015 Beijing 50 km walk
European Championships
2014 Zürich 50 km walk
2018 Berlin 50 km walk
World Race Walking Cup
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

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

  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.
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