eastern europe: the balkans and the slavic countries
in this case the story is not as much who is going to play
as it is how many countries are going to be there next time.
backyard has been growing rapidly in this area the last couple of years,
and this year’s big’s will be closely followed as preparations are already started for a slew of new teams in 2026.
poland is joining the fray for the first time this year,
and despite their short backyard history they are seeded 6th.
even without a satellite team in 2022 a number of poles made it to the 2023 individual championships off the at large list,
with their top man making it to the final 3.
their top runner is out with injury this year,
but the polish team will be ably led by lucasz wrobel (70) and tomasz cyganski (69).
behind those two, youngster patryk swietochowski (63) and pawel pszczolkowski (62) head up one of the deepest teams in the competition.
with the exceptional team depth
i dont see any doubt that poland will be a contender long into the competition,
and if they get some breakout performances at the top of the lineup,
poland could be in this to the very end.
hungary rounds out the top 10 seeded teams in 10th.
the hungarians opened some eyes in 2022,
as they seized the early lead by being the last team with all 15 athletes still upright.
altho it was obvious that the magyar team was making the common inexperience error of going out too fast
they got everyone’s attention.
but fast laps are useless,
as no one can build a lead in the backyard
and the hungarian athletes paid for it later.
a more seasoned team,
led by seasoned szilard fodor (64)
is sure to be watched carefully by all the other contenders.
this is not a team to be taken lightly.
slovakia, led by the veteran patrik hrotek (55), czechia, turkey, north macedonia, and ukraine round out the 2024 entries from this far flung region.
in 2026 we will have to split out the balkans and the slavic countries!
this being the backyard, there is no telling who will step up and astound the world this time out.
it just takes leadership, and strong efforts from all 15 team members to make great things happen in the backyard.
