Samukonga wins Budapest 400m in season's best 44.02

BUDAPEST — Zambia's Muzala Samukonga won the men's 400m at the István Gyulai Memorial on Tuesday in a season's best 44.02, a time that represents the sprinter's quickest lap since 2024.

The victory, on 14 July 2026 at the Nemzeti Atlétikai Központ, returned Zambia's Olympic 400m bronze medallist to the front of a strong field and marked the quickest one-lap race of Samukonga's season. Samukonga, who this year began building Zambia's first athletics academy, beat the home favourite Attila Molnár into second and signalled a return to form before the championship rounds.

A season's best in Budapest

Samukonga won in 44.02, according to the World Athletics report, a season's best for the Zambian and the meeting's fastest men's 400m. Molnár, on home ground, took second in 44.51. South Africa's Zakithi Nene completed the podium in 44.57, leaving the runners either side of Samukonga little daylight. The finish gave the continent two of the top three places over one lap, with the Zambian and the South African separated by Molnár in a race decided inside four tenths of a second.

Named after the late World Athletics general secretary István Gyulai, the Budapest meeting is a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event, the top rung of the one-day circuit below the Diamond League. The 2026 programme drew Olympic and world medallists across several disciplines, and the men's 400m sent three runners under 44.6 to the line. Continental Tour Gold meetings award world ranking points that feed into qualification for the sport's major championships, so a win over a field of this depth carries value for Samukonga beyond the time on the clock.

Back to the form of 2024

For Samukonga, 44.02 read as a marker of recovery rather than a peak. World Athletics lists the Zambian's personal best at 43.74, the national record set to win bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and Tuesday's time was the sprinter's fastest since that August final. A 23-year-old with championship medals already banked, Samukonga has spent 2026 rebuilding toward the sharp end of the global season.

A sub-44.1 clocking in mid-July places Samukonga among the faster 400m runners of the year and offers a base to sharpen before the championship fixtures, when heats, semi-finals and finals on consecutive days reward athletes holding form deep into the calendar. Few African quarter-milers have strung together the championship medals and circuit wins that Samukonga now carries, and the Budapest race put the Zambian back among the season's quicker times over the distance.

I said I'll be the next one, the next king.

— Muzala Samukonga, <a href="https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/athlete/muzala-samukonga_1937531">on his 400m bronze at Paris 2024</a>

Molnár pushes at home

Molnár had reasons for confidence in Budapest. The Hungarian set a national record of 44.47 in Monaco the week before the Gyulai Memorial and arrived as the 2025 European indoor 400m champion. Molnár had also lowered a personal best to 44.55 at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, part of a steady climb toward the front of European quarter-mile running. Against Samukonga, though, Molnár could not repeat that Monaco form, and 44.51 left the home runner second. The result confirmed a rivalry worth tracking through the rest of 2026, with both quarter-milers likely to meet again on the circuit.

Background: Zambia's quarter-mile standard-bearer

Samukonga, born in Lusaka on 9 December 2002, has carried Zambian athletics for much of the decade. The sprinter won 400m gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in a then-national record 44.66 and took the African title the same year. The Zambian added 400m silver and 4x400m relay gold at the 2023 African Games before the breakthrough in Paris.

At Paris 2024, Samukonga's bronze was Zambia's first Olympic medal since Samuel Matete's 400m hurdles silver at Atlanta 1996, a 28-year wait that the Lusaka sprinter ended as the nation's flag bearer at those Games. Zambia's presence at the sharp end of global sprinting had been thin across the intervening decades, which sharpened the significance of the Paris podium and of every fast 400m the Lusaka runner has produced since. Beyond the track, Samukonga has moved into development work, beginning an academy intended to widen Zambia's talent base. The Budapest win folds into that longer project: a leading athlete keeping Zambia visible on the World Athletics circuit while building a pathway behind the current generation.

My first Olympics, and after 28 years? I am proud.

— Muzala Samukonga, <a href="https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/athlete/muzala-samukonga_1937531">after winning 400m bronze at Paris 2024</a>

What to watch

The Budapest result sets up the heart of Samukonga's season. Continental Tour and Diamond League meetings offer more chances to press toward the 43-second range before the year's global fixtures, and each outing measures the Zambian against the event's leading names. A season's best in the low 44s this early also gives Samukonga a benchmark to defend, and the coming weeks will show whether the Zambian can turn Continental Tour form into the finals that decide championship medals. Molnár, the Monaco record-holder, is likely to feature in several of the same fields.

The wider story is African success across individual events, from the track to the court, as seen when Egypt's Amina Orfi won the world squash title. For Zambia, Samukonga remains the standard-bearer, and the season's remaining sport and athletics coverage will track whether the Budapest form holds into the championship rounds.

Sources

This report draws on the World Athletics meeting report and the official results for the István Gyulai Memorial; the olympics.com meeting guide; the Muzala Samukonga profile and Zambia at the Olympics record for honours and history; and the Attila Molnár profile.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the István Gyulai Memorial?

In short, the István Gyulai Memorial is a one-day World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting held in Budapest, according to World Athletics, and named after the late World Athletics general secretary István Gyulai. The 2026 edition data shows fields featuring Olympic and world medallists across the sprints, jumps and throws.

How does 44.02 compare with Samukonga's personal best?

The answer is that 44.02 sits just outside the sprinter's best work: World Athletics data shows a personal best of 43.74, the national record set to win Olympic bronze in Paris in 2024.

Why is the Budapest result significant for Zambia?

Simply put, the run reveals a return to form for Zambia's leading quarter-miler before a championship season, according to World Athletics. Research into the recent record found no faster 400m from Samukonga since the 2024 Olympic final.

Who is Attila Molnár?

In other words, Attila Molnár is Hungary's leading 400m runner and the 2025 European indoor champion, according to World Athletics. The Budapest result shows Molnár clocked 44.51, close to the 44.47 national record data credited to a Monaco run a week earlier.

What are Samukonga's next targets?

The key is the championship calendar: analysis of the 2026 season points to global fixtures and, further out, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where World Athletics data shows Zambia will again look to Samukonga to deliver over one lap.