Márta Kropkó

Some athletes find triathlon. Márta was born into it. She grew up in Budapest inside one of the sport's great families — her father Péter a giant of Hungarian triathlon, her mother a European silver medallist, her brother Márton racing the same circuits she does. Yet the Kropkós didn't put their children in the pool to build champions; they did it so the water would never be a danger. The champions came later.

The water came first, and it held on. Márta rose through Hungary's famed swimming system, reaching the senior national ranks and lining up in relays beside Olympic royalty like Katinka Hosszú, most at home over the long, lonely 800 metres of freestyle. Running showed up once a week. Then the bike. Three sports, one athlete — and the line she still uses to introduce herself: “a triathlete among swimmers, a swimmer among triathletes.”

That swim-first engine became her signature. As a junior she stacked up European Cup wins and took both the European and World Aquathlon titles, later adding the U23 Aquathlon world crown in Ibiza. When the gun goes and the water churns, very few come out of it ahead of her.

2023 was the year the senior results caught the promise. At twenty, Márta anchored Hungary's Mixed Relay to bronze at the European Games in Kraków and fifth at the World Championships in Hamburg, then broke through for her first World Cup top ten in Weihai. The girl from the swimming lanes had become a finisher on triathlon's biggest stages.

Since joining the crew she transformed from a swim-biker to a threat on all three disciplines. She was 3rd at the U23 World Champs in 2025 and recently came in top 10 for the first time on a Championship Series race.

Her goal is to start in Los Angeles, 2028.