Today was Vajda Day at the 2011 ICF World Sprint Championships in Szeged. Attila Vajda (HUN) the 2008 Olympic champion who enjoys a national hero status among Hungarians, thrilled a partisan hometown crowd with a momentous display of power and determination to stave off a last-minute charge by Spaniard David Cal and claim his second World title.

I had energy from my father, this medal is dedicated to him

Vajda said of his beloved father, David, who passed away in February. “He was holding my hand and he gave me more power the whole way.”

In a nail-biting sprint in the last 100 meters of the C1 1000m race, Vajda said he saw Cal on the charge but said to himself, “No David, this is not your race, this is not your course, and this is not your medal.”

In an event where ranking has been decided by thousandths of seconds, Vajda’s finish time revealed a decisive win, though it looked like a photo finish to those in the raucous grandstands. Vajda’s 4:04.749 was nearly 1.3 seconds faster than Cal and 3.4 seconds faster than defending champ Vadim Menkov (UZB).

Adding more Gold to Hungary’s treasure chest were Tamara Csipes in K1 Women’s 1000m and the K4 Women’s 500m. Hungary’s K2 Women’s 1000m and C4 Men’s 1000m teams reeled in two Bronze medals for the daily catch. The day also held a few surprises. Canada and Slovakia both dealt upsets to defending German champs.

After winning the K1 1000m, Canada’s Adam Van Koeverden admitted he had been all nerves the past 24 hours; wracked with all the emotions that go with feeling like he had “already won, already lost and everything in between.” In the end, he said he followed his own game plan: not jumping out to too hot a start, staying calm, keeping his head down, and just seeing where it would take him. In this case, it led straight to the top of the podium. Van Koeverden, whose mother is Hungarian, said he has always loved Hungary but it now has an extra special place in his heart.

No one was more surprised by Slovakia’s upset victory in the men’s K2 100m than the winners themselves. Still in a state of somewhere between shock and elation even after the medal award ceremony Peter Gelle, half of the K2 1000m team said, “It’s unbelievable that we are Number One.” Part of disbelief stems from the fact Gelle, and partner Erik Vlcek have been partners a mere five weeks. Today was just the 14th time the pair ever paddled together.

In the medals race, Hungary edged out Germany, 5 – 4 including three Gold medals.

The hunt for medals race for all 94 countries at this year’s Sprint Worlds continues tomorrow, with a morning full of 200m events starting with Men’s K1 200m at 8 a.m.