UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Cup Final: Kandil (EGY) takes solid lead into Final

• Gulyas (HUN), Micheli (ITA) and Clouvel (FRA) dominate first Semi-final
• Second Semi-final won by Abdelmaksoud (EGY) ahead of Varley (GBR)
• Home favourite Ozyuksel (TUR) earns Super Saturday opportunity

Amira Kandil of Egypt holds pole position going into the Women’s Final after performing strongly in the Semi-finals at the UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Cup Final.

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Kandil (EGY) scored highest in the Fencing Ranking Round alongside Charlie Follett of Great Britain, whose elimination in Riding wrecked her hopes of competing for a medal on Super Saturday.

Semi-final A was won by three top athletes who crossed the line together – Michelle Gulyas of Hungary, Elena Micheli of Italy and Elodie Clouvel of France.

Others who qualified automatically for the Final were Elena Potapenko of Kazakhstan, Misaki Uchida of Japan, Malak Ismail (EGY) and Sehee Kim of Korea.

However, the addition of Riding to the Semi-finals for the first time – introducing a format that will be replicated during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – ended the hopes of Follett (GBR) as well as four other competitors including Veronika Novotna of Czech Republic, a silver medallist during the regular season.

In Semi-final B, Kandil (EGY) scored maximum points in the Fencing Bonus Round and Riding, but struggled in the Laser Run and finished 8th, only narrowly qualifying for the Final.

She was overtaken in the Laser Run by the seven automatic qualifiers – team-mate Salma Abdelmaksoud (EGY), Jessica Varley (GBR), Beatrice Mercuri of Italy, Olivia Green (GBR), Sunwoo Kim (KOR), Ieva Serapinaite of Lithuania and home favourite Ilke Ozyuksel of Turkey.

In the second Semi-final only one athlete – Phaelen French of United States – was eliminated in Riding.

It all means that Kandil (EGY) will start the Women’s Final with 250 points, 15 more than Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Clouvel (FRA) and 20 more than world No.1 Gulyas (HUN) with Abdelmaksoud (EGY) and Green (GBR) a further five points behind.

The UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Cup Final continues tomorrow (June 24) with the Men's Semi-finals, followed by the Women’s and Men’s Finals on June 25 and the Mixed Relay on June 26.

Live stream of all Semi-finals and Finals is available on UIPM TV and all competition results are available at the UIPM website.

The list of athletes who qualified for the Women’s Final is as follows: