UIPM rebrands four Paris 2024 Olympic qualification events as Pentathlon Challengers

The first two Modern Pentathlon qualification places at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been secured and now a rebranding initiative from UIPM aims to add prestige and relevance to all competitions on the road to Paris.

The UIPM Executive Board has agreed to a proposal – first tabled at UIPM 2022 Congress – for numerous competitions to be assigned the status of UIPM Pentathlon Challenger.

The Pentathlon Challenger label in the Paris 2024 cycle applies to a series of four Olympic ranking competitions run by National Federations outside of the UIPM competition circuit, and they are as follows:

• UIPM 2023 Pentathlon Challenger Poland | Drzonkow (POL), August 1-6, 2023
• UIPM 2023 Pentathlon Challenger Spain | Madrid (ESP), 27 Sep - 1 Oct, 2023
• UIPM 2023 Pentathlon Challenger Kyrgyzstan | Bishkek (KGZ), October 14-18, 2023
• UIPM 2024 Pentathlon Challenger Egypt | Cairo (EGY), January 25-28, 2024

Points achieved by athletes in all Pentathlon Challenger competitions count towards their ranking in the Olympic Pentathlon World Rankings.

The rebrand is also designed to standardise actions and procedures for the four competitions in the series and give more visibility, clarity and adherence to the Olympic qualification pathway.

UIPM Executive Board Member for Sport, Janusz Peciak OLY, said: “The new Pentathlon Challenger competition is a great opportunity to earn Olympic Games qualification ranking points for those athletes who do not earn a direct qualification quota place for Paris 2024.

“The top six athletes in the OPWR can qualify for the 2024 Olympics, and the Challenger events in Africa, Asia and Europe can help them accumulate the points they need. Sometimes one point can decide who will become an Olympian.”

UIPM Executive Board Member for Development, Dr Viacheslav Malishev, added: “I am happy to see the first step towards creation of a new competition series which will help develop Modern Pentathlon around the world.”