Romanian cyclist
Ede-Károly Molnár this past Sunday won
the European title in the mountain bike cross-country eliminator held in
Sakarya, Turkey. It was Romanian cyclism’s all-time high so far. Reason enough
for Radio Romania International to designate Ede-Károly Molnár the Athlete of
the week.
According to
Agerpres Romanian news agency, in Turkey, Molnar overpowered great mountain bike
cyclists such as the French Titouan Perrin-Ganier or Nils-Obed Riecker and Simon
Gegenheimer of Germany. Molnar was also lucky, because during the last leg of
the race one of his three challengers got his bike chain broken, so right from
the start Molnar secured a medal for himself. The Romania stepped up a little
bit and walked away with gold, being one second faster than many-time European and
world champion, Titouan Perrin-Ganier,
Ede-Károly
Molnár hails from Sfântu Gheorghe, in central Romania. He was born on March 6, 1996.
Molnar has been competing in the Concurează la cross-country eliminator (XCE) since
2022 when he also won a bronze medal at the European Championship in Portugal. He also competed in the Olympic cross-country (XCO) and in the short-track (XCC) races, where he walked
away with silver at the National Championships in 2023. Molnar was only defeated
by Vlad Dascălu, a cyclist who will represent Romanian at the 2024 edition of
the Olympic Games in Paris, in the Olympic cross-country race.
For the Romanian
cyclist, the next top-notch competition is drawing near as in two weeks’ time
the World Championships are about to kick-start, held in Palangkaraya, Indonesia. It is the competition where
Molnar will have the opportunity to prove the success in Turkey was not a
random performance.
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