UIPM 2018 Tetrathlon U19 World Championships: Clean sweep for Egypt as Elgendy takes gold

Ahmed Elgendy of Egypt was crowned Men’s Individual champion on Day 4 of the UIPM 2018 Under 19 Tetrathlon World Championships - and he was surrounded by familiar faces on the podium.

In an extraordinary clean sweep, Egypt won all three medals as Shaban Mohanad and Alyeldin Sewilam claimed silver and bronze respectively.

The result demonstrated that Egypt’s production line of pentathlon talent is as strong as ever. All three medallists finished in the top six of both Fencing and Laser-Run.

The contest for gold was not especially close, as Elgendy (EGY) crossed the line with a winning margin of 27sec. Mohanad (EGY) beat Sewilam (EGY) by 5sec and the man in 4th place, Ugo Fleurot of France, was a further 5sec behind.

Jozsef Tamas of Hungary (HUN) came home in 5th and Uladzislau Astrouski of Belarus was one place further back.

“It was hard, but I’m so happy and I can’t believe I’ve done it,” said new champion Elgendy (EGY), who has competed in three senior World Cups. “Last year I got silver at the U19 World Championships and now I have gold, so it’s a huge day for me.

“I think my Fencing has been improving very well and it gave me self-confidence. I’m so excited to be going to the Youth Olympic Games.

“My team deserved this success because they trained very well and very hard.”

Inevitably, Egypt won team gold ahead of silver medallists Hungary, with France completing the podium.

“Today is really the greatest day of my life,” said Samy Awad (EGY), one of the sport’s most experienced coaches. “I’ve been in pentathlon for 37 years and I’ve joined my team at so many different competitions, and today was the biggest moment we ever had.

“For the first time, the Egypt team has finished one, two and three in a competition and it was an amazing performance – really it was our day today.”

Six qualifying places in the Men’s Individual competition at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games were at stake today and the successful qualifiers will be announced in due course.

FENCING

There was no repeat of yesterday’s extraordinary world-record performance by Alice Rinaudo (ITA) during a Ranking Round that was fiercely contested by the 36 male athletes.

Toby Price (GBR) topped the standings with his standout score of 25V/11D, but he was separated by only one victory from Egor Gromadskii of Russia and Elgendy (EGY), who immediately put himself in contention.

Two fencers stood out during the Bonus Round, each gathering four points to add to their score: Sewilam (EGY) and Kang Seonghyeon of Korea.

SWIMMING

Fastest in the pool was Lee Minseo (KOR) with a time of 1:58.70, but once again Elgendy (EGY) stayed close the pace with 1:59.24, with Csaba Bohm (HUN) coming in 3rd in 2:00.01.

LASER-RUN

Elgendy (EGY) started with a lead of 8sec from Gromadskii (RUS) wuth Kang (KOR) and Tamas (HUN) very close behind. Tamas (HUN) moved up to 2nd with Price (GBR) joining him in the medal hunt, and they were soon joined by Gromadskii (RUS).

Soon it became apparent that Egypt could win more than one medal, as Shaban (EGY) moved up to 3rd after the second shooting range and then up to 2nd before the final lap.

The final lap was a procession for Elgendy (EGY), who had never given any of his rivals any serious hope of catching him, and Shaban (EGY) maintained his small lead – but the fight for bronze looked like being a battle between Fleurot (FRA) and Tamas (HUN).

That all changed when Sewilam (EGY) summoned the stamina to burst past the two Europeans and claim the final place on a very special, red-coloured podium.

“Another exciting day, another exciting final and we saw the Egyptians smash the podium. It was a great result and I congratulate all the athletes who qualified for the Youth Olympic Games,” said Viacheslav Malishev, UIPM Executive Board Member for Development.

“I would like to underline that so far we have seen great organization here in Portugal, which is a great pentathlon country and competitions are always organized to a high level. Thanks Manuel Barroso, President of the Portuguese Modern Pentathlon Federation.”

The biggest-ever gathering of teenage pentathletes has assembled for the UIPM 2018 Under 19 Tetrathlon World Championships, with more than 220 athletes registered to take part across seven days of competition.

The action continues tomorrow (April 12) with 21 nations taking part in the Women’s Relay. For results visit the UIPM website.

The 12 new qualifiers for Buenos Aires 2018 will be confirmed in due course. The line-up for the Games is moving nearer to completion with 18 places previously secured at the continental qualifying events.