UIPM 2017 U19 World Championships: Men's Relay gold for Egypt

Egypt came from behind to secure victory in the Men’s Relay on day two of the UIPM 2017 U19 World Championships.

Egypt (Elgendy Ahmed & Shaban Mohanad) started the Laser-Run in 3rd place but managed to overcome their rivals to win a thrilling contest. Belarus (Uladzislau Astrouski & Mikita Ivarouski) secured silver ahead of bronze medallists Korea (Kim Woocheol & Kim Kyounghwan), who secured a place on the podium thanks to a superb Laser-Run.

In fact it was a dramatic finish in sunny Prague as Russia (Vladimir Chelmakin & Sergey Kolbasenko) had finished the final shoot at the same time as the three medallists, France (Xavier Dufour & Jean-Baptiste Mourcia) having already relinquished their starting advantage.

It was a hard-earned lead that France (Dufour/Mourcia) were unable to convert. They had performed best in Fencing with a score of 28V/10D, before Russia (Chelmakin/Kolbasenko) and Korea (Kim/Kim) made up ground in Swimming.

In the end it was the consistency of Egypt (Ahmed/Mohanad) that was decisive: they started the Laser-Run only 4secs behind leaders France (Dufour/Mourcia) and 1sec behind Russia (Chelmakin/Kolbasenko), who led at the 3rd shoot.

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “Today we had 20 countries competing on the second day of the 2017 UIPM U19 World Championships, with all continents represented once again.

“There has already been a very high quality of competition and I congratulate all the medallists of the Men’s and Women’s Relays and the organisers here in the historic city of Prague. Now we are anticipating the individual events and the Mixed Relay which I know will demonstrate the progress of our sport at youth level.”

Samy Awad (EGY), Member of the UIPM Coaches Committee, said: “I am very pleased that Amr Said, the coach of Egypt, won the Coaches Award today and I’m happy that we are creating this tradition because it recognises the role of coaches in supporting elite athletes.”

The UIPM U19 World Championships, formerly known as the UIPM Youth A World Championships and comprising a Tetrathlon format (Fencing / Swimming / Laser-Run), continue on July 20 & 21 with qualification for the Women’s and Men’s Individual Finals on July 22 & 23 respectively. The Mixed Relay concludes the event on July 24.