UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Cup Final: All you need to know

The world’s leading pentathletes have gathered in Tokyo for a competition that carries huge relevance in the build-up to the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, now just 13 months away.

The UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Cup Final is an official Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games test event. But while the event management process undergoes a thorough examination, this is no dress rehearsal for athletes.

The competition carries immense importance with two Olympic qualifying places at stake, along with the prestige of becoming a World Cup Final champion or medallist. The ‘galacticos’ of pentathlon have responded by travelling in convoy to Japan with very few absentees.

ROAD TO TOKYO

The winners of the Women’s Individual (June 28) and Men’s Individual (June 29) events will earn automatic qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. They will join the African champions on the list for Tokyo, after Haydy Morsy and Sherif Nazeir of Egypt became the first pentathletes to qualify earlier this year. More athletes will continue to secure their places at the continental qualifiers and the UIPM Pentathlon World Championships in the coming months.

The Olympic test event gives UIPM and the Olympic Games Organising Committee in Tokyo the chance to road-test the Olympic competition from a logistical point of view. The venue will be AGF Field within the Tokyo Stadium complex at Musashino Forest, where the Olympic pentathlon will take place.

ONES TO WATCH

With two Olympic champions – Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania and Alexander Lesun of Russia – and nine individual world champions in the field, it will be a fascinating collision of class across the ranks of experience and youth.

Several of the breakthrough stars of the 2019 season will be in Tokyo, including first-time Pentathlon World Cup gold medallists Marie Oteiza of France and Uliana Batashova of Russia, Ahmed Elgendy of Egypt and Manuel Padilla of Mexico.

Fourteen of the 15 top-ranked women will be on the start line, led by Oteiza (FRA) and No.2 Sarolta Kovacs of Hungary, with 2018 world champion Anastasiya Prokopenko of Belarus another name to watch. On the men’s side, all 11 of the top-ranked athletes will be competing, led by No.1 Valentin Prades (FRA) and No.2 Jan Kuf of Czech Republic.

Great Britain will expect to mount a strong challenge with the in-form Kate French and Joe Choong together with 2018 world champion Jamie Cooke, while Germany look formidable with Annika Schleu and Marvin Dogue competing alongside his big brother Patrick. Russia can also have high hopes of success through Gulnaz Gubaydullina teaming up with Batashova and Lesun.

It will be interesting to see the impact of the Asian challenge on home soil, with 13 of the 72 competing athletes coming from the host continent, including five from Japan. Jung Jinhwa of Korea won gold at the UIPM 2018 Pentathlon World Cup Final and much will be expected of him and his team-mate Jun Woongtae after a quiet season.

Besides the absence of the injured Rio 2016 Olympic women’s champion, Chloe Esposito of Australia, there are very few of the sport’s leading lights missing from the field.

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “There is a great deal of excitement across our global pentathlon community as we await the start of the UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Cup Final and official Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games test event.

“Here in the 2020 host city we are delighted to have the opportunity to test the Olympic pentathlon competition more than a year out from the Games, highlighting the importance of advance planning.

“It is a great pleasure to be working so closely with the Olympic Games Organising Committee, the Modern Pentathlon Association of Japan and the Japanese Olympic Committee. Together we are committed to delivering the best-ever Olympic Modern Pentathlon, an ever-present fixture of the programme since it was introduced by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in Stockholm in 1912.

“I congratulate all of the 72 athletes who have reached this destination after four rounds of high-quality and very tough competition in Cairo (EGY), Sofia (BUL), Szekesfehervar (HUN) and Prague (CZE), and wish them every success in the World Cup Final.”

COMPETITION SCHEDULE

UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Cup Final Tokyo begins on Thursday, July 27 with the Opening Ceremony, preceded by the Fencing Ranking Round. The women begin at 12pm (local time) with the men following at 3.30pm.

The other events in the Women’s Final take place on Friday, June 28 followed by the continuation of the Men’s Final on Saturday, June 29. The first three days of competition mirror the format that will be used in the Olympic Games.

The Mixed Relay closes the World Cup Final on Sunday, June 30. 

WATCH AND FOLLOW

The Pentathlon World Cup Final will be televised live or ‘as live’ in 143 countries, with a total of 90 hours of coverage secured by TV networks. This amounts to a total potential reach of 409 million.

On each day of the competition you can watch a live stream of the Fencing Bonus Round, Riding, Laser Run and the medal ceremony on UIPM TV and YouTube, with no geographical restrictions. The Laser Run and medal ceremony can also be watched live on Facebook.

Follow World Pentathlon on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout the Pentathlon World Cup series for additional content, and visit the UIPM website or download the “UIPM Central” app to keep track of results.

Check out which broadcaster is showing the UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Cup Final: UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Cup Final Broadcasters