UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Sofia: Prades (FRA) on fire to lead French quartet in Men’s Semi-finals

• Dominant Prades (FRA) heads a star-studded field for Saturday’s Men’s Final
• Joseph Choong (GBR) and Balazs Szep (HUN) safely through to chase leader
• Ten nations represented in Final with Todor Mihalev (BUL) carrying hosts’ hopes

Valentin Prades of France roared into the Men’s Final on the back of a stellar exhibition of his all-round talents on an exciting fourth day of UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Sofia. 

Prades (FRA), ranked 7th in the world, rushed to the head of a formidable field of leading contenders ahead of Super Saturday in the Bulgarian capital as he racked up 27 victories in Friday’s Fencing Ranking Round. 

That performance on the piste was enough to give Prades (FRA) a 35-point lead on reigning Olympic champion and World No.1 Joseph Choong of Great Britain with Balazs Szep of Hungary, the World No.3, sure to be among those hunting down Prades (FRA) on Saturday afternoon.

Ten different nations and three continents will be represented by the 18 Men’s finalists with Prades (FRA) leading a French quartet safely through Friday’s Men’s Semi-finals with Christopher Patte and Pierre Dejardin qualifying in Semi-final A and Ugo Fleurot battling through a tense Laser Run in Semi-final B. 

Hungary will have three representatives with Szep (HUN) joined by Richard Bereczki and Gergely Regos, who claimed the last spot with a ninth-placed finish in Semi-final B, which was won by Taishu Sato of Japan with Marvin Dogue of Germany in second after Prades (FRA) had eased up. 

Earlier Semi-final A had seen a home favourite cross the line first when Todor Mihalev of Bulgaria finished narrowly ahead of Shuai Luo of China. Sato (JPN) and Mihalev (BUL), each of whom claimed 24 victims in the Fencing Ranking Round, will be among the athletes closest behind Prades (FRA) when the Men’s Final begins with Jihun Lee of Korea, who had 25 Fencing wins, first on the Frenchman’s tail. 

UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Sofia continues tomorrow (May 13) with both the Men’s and Women’s Finals on ‘Super Saturday’, with the Mixed Relay concluding the competition on May 14. 

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 Men’s Final is as follows: