UIPM 2019 Youth World Championships (U19 & U17): Germany win thrilling Women’s Relay

• Comeback brings glory for Fernandez Donda & Schneider (GER)
• Belarus in close second ahead of bronze medallists France
• U17 men qualify for final in Sofia (BUL)

For the second day in a row there was a dramatic finish at the UIPM Youth World Championships and this time it was Germany who won the gold medal as Esther Fernandez Donda and Annika Schneider won the Under 19 Women’s Relay.

The second day of the championships also featured qualification for the U17 Men’s Individual Final but, like yesterday with the Men’s Relay, the senior youth competition was fraught with suspense.

Only three seconds separated Germany (Fernandez Donda/Schneider) from silver medallists Belarus (Kseniya Klimiankova & Katsiaryna Etsina) and third-placed France (Rebecca Castaudi & Candice Ortega).

It was the first time in four years that Italy, who did not enter a team, were not crowned Women’s Relay champions. Egypt (Hania Tarek & Amira Kandil) finished 4th with Hungary (Rita Erdos & Noemi Eszes) 5th and Japan (Kaede & Natsu Ohta) completed the top six.

HOW THE MEDALS WERE WON

Czech Republic duo Katerina Tomanova and Barbora Hartmanova set the pace in the Swimming pool with a time of 2:06.79, with Russia athletes Ekaterina Galukhina and Maria Goretskaia and Belarus (Klimiankova/Etsina) next-fastest.

France (Castaudi/Ortega) put themselves in contention by scoring 25V/13D in the Fencing Ranking Round, adding two additional points in the Bonus Round. Also impressive on the piste were Czech Republic (Tomanova/Hartmanova) and Germany (Fernandez Donda/Schneider), while Thailand duo Panalee Palasri and Prawa Kerdchantrong added six points in the Bonus Round.

Czech Republic (Tomanova/Hartmanova) started the Laser Run first with a 11sec lead over Belarus (Klimiankova/Etsina) and 15sec over France (Castaudi/Ortega), with Germany (Fernandez Donda/Schneider) having to make up a 24sec deficit.

However, it was Egypt who took control of the race, with Tarek (EGY) handing over a strong position to Kandil (EGY). They remained in the lead until the last shooting series, when Kandil (EGY) struggled to get her shots away and was suddenly overtaken.

A perfect shoot by Fernandez Donda (GER) was decisive, and the 16-year-old managed to run clear of an intense silver-medal duel between Belarus and France, with Egypt missing out on the podium.

Click here to see the full results.

CHAMPIONS’ REACTION

Schneider (GER) said: “I’m speechless. I’m very happy. The Fencing and the running was very good. Sometimes my Fencing is very bad but today it was very good for me. I want to say thank you to my coaches and my friends”

Fernandez Donda (GER) added: “I’m very happy about the outcome of the competition. Today my best discipline was shooting, especially on the last series.

“Now I’m looking forward to the U19 Women’s Individual Final and the U17 Mixed Relay. I’m very happy for my partner and my family and coaches.”

U17 UPDATE

Sixty-four athletes took part in qualification for the U17 Men’s Individual Final, with Esau Florido of Mexico emerging as the top performer ahead of Moutaz Mohamed (EGY) and Kodai Arai (JPN).

The 36 successful qualifiers for the final on Sunday, 21 July are listed below.

UIPM REACTION

Philipp Waeffler, UIPM Competitions Director, said: “I think it’s great to see the pentathletes of the future competing with a smile on their faces, and it’s great to see very close and good competition. In good spirit they were fighting for the medals.

“It is also very nice to see 40 nations competing in U17 and U19, so there was something entertaining going on all day for all teams. They can all see what it will be like in the future to become top athletes.

“I would like to thank the organisational work of the Bulgarian Modern Pentathlon Federation and what they did with the judges and the volunteers. Every day from early in the morning until the evening they put on a good competition that all the teams can benefit from, with great infrastructure.”

WATCH AND FOLLOW

The UIPM 2019 Youth World Championships (U19 / U17) in Sofia (BUL) runs from July 18-24 and continues on Saturday, July 20 with the U17 Women’s Individual Final and the U19 Mixed Relay.

Visit the UIPM website or download “UIPM Central” from your app store to keep track of live results throughout the championships. Follow UIPM on Facebook or Twitter to see daily video and photo highlights.