Russia double up with Men’s Relay title on Day 2 of Junior World Championships

CAIRO, EGPYT - Serge Baranov and Alexander Lifanov from Russia were crowned Men’s Relay champions at the UIPM 2016 Junior World Championships. 

The Russians were consistent throughout a competition that saw 17 nations from across the world giving their all for the gold medal. In the end it was Baranov and Lifanov who stood on top of the podium, repeating the success of their women compatriots just one day before.

The silver medal went to Lee Jihun and Jun Woongtae (KOR) with Daniele Colasanti and Gianluca Micozzi (ITA) clinching bronze.

Despite the eventual outcome, the spectators in the Cairo Equestrian Stadium would not have been surprised to have seen the Korean duo winning the competition.

Jun, who competed in the recent Rio 2016 Olympic Games where he finished 19th, and Lee were fastest in the Swimming pool with a time of 1:51:72. On to the Fencing hall, it was the Korean duo who remained top of the overall leaderboard with 24 victories and 8 defeats.

Still, amid a feverish contest, the Koreans could never put daylight between themselves and Russia as Baranov and Lifanov finished 2nd in Fencing and 3rd in Swimming, just behind Belarus. 

The turning point was the Riding event, which unfolded in a way that pushed both Korea and Russia down the table as they watched Germany finish 1st with 294 points, Italy 2nd (293) and Poland 3rd (292). From that moment, the Italians demonstrated to the crowd their determination to earn a place in the podium. Russia ended in 10th collecting 281 points, 29 points ahead of the Koreans who came 13th.

This set up a Combined Event that played out according to the time handicaps with Baranov / Lifanov (RUS) increasing their already sizable gap of 14 seconds to take gold followed by Jun / Lee (KOR) and Colasanti / Micozzi (ITA) who grabbed bronze to the dismay of the Egyptian crowd, who had pinned their hopes on Sherif Nazeir and Ahed Named (EGY), in 4th, to claim a medal.

For the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation President Sherif El-Erian, the success of the competition could be viewed from a different perspective.

"We are very happy with the way the competition is unfolding with these young athletes from several different nations gathering for competition, for glory but also for joy,” he said.

“We can see that everything is running very smoothly and I am sure we will maintain this good atmosphere for the coming days in the Individuals and Mixed Relay."

The President of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), Dr Klaus Schormann, was delighted at the end of the competition day. He said: “Today we saw again the young generation of our sport showing up, new faces, and the way they performed in all five disciplines leaves us with great hope for the future.

“The organizers must be happy with the great competition they are delivering. It was a great second day of the UIPM 2016 Junior World Championships and I am looking forward to the rest of the week."

The championships continue with the Women's Individual Qualification on Wednesday, September 14 and continue through to Sunday, September 18.