UIPM 2023 U17 World Championships: Historic relay success for Germany and Egypt on opening day

Four athletes from Germany and Egypt made history as the first-ever world champions in a Modern Pentathlon including the new Obstacle discipline.

The Women’s Relay at the UIPM 2023 U17 World Championships was won by Amaya El-Masri and Nadja Farmand (GER) after a tense battle with silver medallists Sarah Mohamed and Farida Khalil (EGY). Bronze went to Alice Gelormino and Anna Chiara Allara of Italy.

Later, the host nation found its path to the top of the podium as Osama Zaki and Mohamed Hassan (EGY) won the Men’s Relay. Silver went to Bartosz Szmytke and Franciszek Dubrawski of Poland and Germany’s second medal of the day (bronze) was claimed by Arija Talebi and Vitus Thieke.

Teenage athletes from 26 nations have gathered in Alexandria (EGY) to become the first youth athletes to compete in a five-discipline Pentathlon, pioneering the new sequence of Fencing/Obstacle/Swimming/Laser Run that will be adopted at all levels of Modern Pentathlon after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Medallists’ reaction

Women’s Relay gold medallist Farmand (GER) said: “I’m very exhausted and it was so hard, but we are happy that we performed the best in the competition.”

El-Masri (GER) added: “Obstacle is really cool, and not too hard, but really intense, really fun. Our dream is to join the Olympic Games, maybe make a medal in 2028 in Los Angeles.”

Men’s Relay gold medallist Zaki (EGY) said: “We feel very tired, it was a very hard race. We trained for many years. We played a Pentathlon, not a Triathle or a Tetrathlon, and we won the gold medal. Our families supported us, it was genius, and we are very happy for ourselves and for them. Our dream is the Olympics in Los Angeles.”

Hassan (EGY) added: “It’s our first championships with the five disciplines, and we won the race. The Obstacle discipline was so fun.”

Women’s Relay

Ten teams started the Women’s Relay and it was Korea (Damin Jung & Hyejin Yoon) who performed best in Fencing, adding four points to their Ranking Round tally of 240 (23V/13D). Germany (El-Masri/Farmand) also scored 23 wins, one more than Egypt (Mohamed/Khalil).

Germany (El-Masri/Farmand) then put their names in the history books as the inaugural winners of a global Pentathlon Obstacle discipline, with a combined time of 1min 12.68sec. Italy (Gelormino/Allara) also performed well with 1:15.70, while a third-fastest time of 1:23.54 and a deficit of 21 points for Egypt compared to Germany demonstrated the quality of the top performance.

On to Swimming and Egypt (Mohamed/Khalil) made a nine-point gain on the leaders with their top time of 2:07.19, while Poland (Olga Cisek & Hanna Jakubowska) also excelled with 2:07.38.

Germany (El-Masri/Farmand) started the Laser Run with a 17sec and they were pushed all the way by the local heroes, Egypt (Mohamed/Khalil), who finished within 4sec of the champions with Italy (Gelormino/Allara) finishing with a comfortable bronze.

Men’s Relay

Leading the way and topping a 14-strong Men’s Relay field in Fencing were Great Britain (Sebastian Forrest & Jack Murray), with 17V/9D and four extra points in the Bonus Round. Korea (Taegyung Lim & Minjae Kim), Germany (Talebi/Thieke) and Hungary (Bendeguz Zeteny Domjan & Botond Basa) each won 16 bouts in the Ranking Round and Egypt added a vital 10 points in the Bonus Round.

The Obstacle course was where Poland (Szmytke/Dubrawski) signalled their podium ambitions, with a best combined time of 58.14sec. Great Britain (Forrest/Murray) also excelled at the new challenge with another sub-1min time of 59.48, with Germany (Talebi/Thieke) ranking 3rd.

In Swimming, Poland (Szmytke/Dubrawski) made an even bigger impression with a huge performance, timing 1:50.65 to move another 7sec clear of Egypt (Zaki/Hassan, 1:54.27). But the roles were reversed in the final discipline, as the young hosts showed the same conviction as their senior counterparts who have begun to dominate at the top of the sport.

Egypt (Zaki/Hassan) completed the Laser Run course in 8:45.78 to take gold with a 10sec margin over Poland (Szmytke/Dubrawski), with Germany (Talebi/Thieke) keeping Great Britain (Forrest/Murray) at bay for bronze.

Watch and follow

The UIPM 2023 U17 World Championships runs from July 11-16, continuing on Wednesday, July 12 with the Women’s Individual Qualification. The Men’s Individual Qualification follows on July 13.

Thirty-six female and 36 male athletes then compete in the Fencing Ranking Round on July 14 before half of them compete in Individual Finals the next day. The Mixed Relay closes the competition on Sunday July 16.

Visit the UIPM website or download “UIPM Central” from your app store to keep track of live results throughout the UIPM 2023 U17 World Championships.

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