UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest: Morsy (EGY) thrives in Women’s Semi-finals

Haydy Morsy of Egypt took a five-point lead into the Women’s Final after a strong Semi-final performance on the third day of UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest.

Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Morsy (EGY) top-scored with 24 victories and 11 defeats in the Fencing Ranking Round, two more successes than team-mate Salma Abdelmaksoud (EGY) with Mingyu Zhang of China splitting them with her score of 23V/12D.

The top three will be put under serious scrutiny on Super Saturday with world champion Elena Micheli of Italy and world No.1 Michelle Gulyas of Hungary lurking close behind, while two-time Olympic medallist Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania will also resume 40 points off the lead.

Semi-final A was won by Ilke Ozyuksel of Türkiye with Morsy (EGY) and Asadauskaite (LTU) both finishing within 10sec of the world No.6.

There was something to cheer for the host nation in Semi-final B as Blanka Guzi (HUN) crossed first with a slender lead from Charlie Follett of Great Britain and Zhang (CHN).

The biggest surprise of the day came when Ieva Serapinaite (LTU), winner of UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Ankara less than two weeks ago, narrowly failed to reach the 18-strong Final line-up after an unusually low Fencing return of 14V/21D.

UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest continues tomorrow (April 28) with the Men’s Semi-final before the Finals on ‘Super Saturday’ (April 29), with the Mixed Relay concluding the competition on April 30. 

Live stream of both Finals will be available on UIPM TV and up-to-date results of all competitions are available at the UIPM website and via the UIPM Central app.

The list of qualified athletes for the Women's Final is as follows: