It first attracted international attention in 2002. She started at the Junior World Championship and the World Championship in Montreal , but dropped out there in the heats. She took part in her first Olympic Games in Salt Lake City , where she was the youngest participant in the short track at the age of 15. She started over 500 m and 1000 m, but could not survive the heats. After that, it was not until the 2003/04 season that Lajtos returned to the international season highlights. In February 2004 she made her debut in Mladá Boleslav in the World Cup, her best result was reaching the quarter-finals over 500 m. At the World Cup in Gothenburg , however, she was eliminated again in all three heats. In the following season 2004/05 Lajtos started only at the home World Cup in Budapest and with the relay at the European Championships in Turin , but could not survive any heats. The 2005/06 season was much more successful . She took part in five World Cups and made it to the quarter-finals in two 500m races and the semi-finals in two relay races. At the Junior World Championships in Miercurea Ciuc and the European Championships in Krynica-Zdrój , she won bronze with the relay and celebrated her first international medals. A year later, Lajtos reached the final of the season again at the European Championships in Sheffield , where the quartet was disqualified.
In the following years Lajtos missed the leap into the Hungarian World Cup team and only started in smaller competitions. It was not until the 2009/10 season that she took part in the World Cup again as a relay runner. With two semi-finals, the relay qualified for the Olympic Games in Vancouver . Lajtos was only substitute runner of the relay at the games and was not used in the races. At the end of the season she took part in the team world championship in Bormio . The Hungarian team won the B final and finished fifth. In the 2010/11 season Lajtos was used again in individual races. In two World Cups she reached the quarter-finals over 1000 m, the semi- finals at the European Championships in Heerenveen over 500 m and the quarter-finals at the World Championships in Sheffield over 500 m. With the relay she also won the silver medal at the European Championship. Also in the 2011/12 season Lajtos won a bronze relay medal at the European Championships in Mladá Boleslav.
Web links
Szandra Lajtos in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
Szandra Lajtos in the database of ShorttrackOnLine.info (English)
Hungary
