Ágota Lykovcán

Lykovcán's father, a former world champion weightlifter, showed her the beauty of the sport and took her to the City Park Ice Rink in Budapest. First she did figure skating but quickly switched to speed skating when she was 10. At her first event after one month she finished at the first place and then she had broken all national records in every age group and still holds them. Thanks to her educator coach Zsolt Baló, a former speed skater who has competed at four Olympics, Lykovcán qualified for the 2006 Olympics in Turin and earned her first World Cup point in 2003 when she was 16.

After 2006 a break point occurred in her career when her coach moved to Canada with his family and the only ice rink in Hungary closed. Due to the lack of training possibilities, Lykovcán had to train alone mostly abroad for many years to keep up at international level.

In 2011 Lykovcán had the chance to work with Jeremy Wotherspoon at KIA Speed Skating Academy in Inzell. The professional training method resulted in new personal bests, and she qualified to the European Championship, World Cups and Sprint World Championship as well.

Lykovcán prefers shorter distances (500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m), although she competes allround. Her best results have all come from 500 m (WC point 2003, 4th in Junior Worlds) and 1000 m (Olympic qualification 2006).

• Ágota Lykovcán's official site
• Photos of Ágota Tóth
• Tóth at Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database
• Ágota Tóth at SkateResults.com