Vajda was a European junior champion in 2000, winning the Canadian canoe C-2 1000 m title with Démász-Szeged team-mate Márton Joób in Boulogne, France.

The Hungarian team did not take part in the early season international regattas: at the European Championships Hungary was represented in the C-1 races by Márton Joób and Sándor Malomsoki.

Vajda won a bronze in the event behind Spain's David Cal and Germany's Andreas Dittmer, but beat out 1996 Olympic champion Martin Doktor with a time of 3:49.025.

Hungary is one of the few countries in the world where sprint canoeists have the status of stars known to the general public and Vajda suddenly found himself the new "golden boy" of Hungarian canoeing.

His performances in 2005 suffered as a result of these distractions; he started the season overweight and failed to make the podium in any major international race.