UIPM President’s statement: July 2023

Dear UIPM family, dear friends,

Already we reached the end of July in this historic year of transition for our beloved sporting movement. Together we have achieved many things, with numerous opportunities still to come.

Whether you are an athlete or coach, technical official or administrator, professional or volunteer, you are playing a part in a historic transformation. Not only can the reinvention of Modern Pentathlon futureproof our sport, it has the potential to increase the global popularity and positive impact of the Olympic Games for future generations.

In July we saw the Obstacle discipline integrated into Modern Pentathlon for the first time at global level, creating a new opportunity for participants in the UIPM U17 and U19 World Championships to compete across five disciplines. We could all see the high level of enjoyment on the Obstacle course, where the standard of performance is already improving.

I take this opportunity on behalf of the UIPM Executive Board to express gratitude to all in our movement who are working hard to make this transition as smooth as possible for athletes of all ages, all stages of development and all social backgrounds. By helping to make our movement more accessible in more countries around the world, Obstacle is a unifying force!

On August 3, we marked the 75th anniversary of UIPM, which was founded in Sandhurst Camberley during the London 1948 Summer Olympic Games. In this context I am delighted that we will be back in Great Britain, only a few days after the anniversary, for our flagship annual event.

The UIPM 2023 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships promises to be a wonderful event. The beautiful host city of Bath is steeped in history and the Sports Training Village at the University of Bath provides a modern high-performance environment.

August 27 will be another key milestone on the Road to Paris, with up to six direct qualification quota berths available for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in the Women’s and Men’s Individual Finals. And soon there will be further qualification opportunities at the African & Oceania Championships in Cairo (EGY), the Asian Games in Hangzhou (CHN) and the Pan American Games in Santiago (CHI).

We recently marked 1 Year To Go until Paris 2024, where the world will see an incredible showcase of Modern Pentathlon at the Chateau de Versailles.

While our thoughts start to move in the direction of Paris, we remain absolutely focused on delivering on the mandate of UIPM Congress to preserve our future in the Olympic Games through the integration of Obstacle. We know that the IOC Session in Mumbai in October will decide if our road will go further than Paris 2024 to the next Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

In September, we are looking forward to visiting Druskininkai in Lithuania for the UIPM 2023 Junior World Championships – another landmark moment in this year of transition, a story of discovery where many actors are playing a key role.

UIPM may be 75 years old, and Modern Pentathlon in the Olympic Games may be 111 years old, yet some things never change. Everything we do follows the Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together.

Dr Klaus Schormann

UIPM President