UIPM 2024 Pentathlon U17 World Championships: Opening acts deliver for Italy and Egypt
There was success for Italy and Egypt on the opening day of the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon U17 World Championships – the second to feature the new Obstacle discipline.
With 30 nations sending their best teenage pentathletes to Caldas da Rainha (POR), there was an impressive quota of 35 teams – compared to 24 last year – in the Women’s and Men’s Relays.
Annachiara Allara and Sara Beggio of Italy excelled in Obstacle to take an impressive gold in the Women’s Relay, finishing 11sec ahead of silver medallists Germany (Charlotte Keister & Hannah Dicks) as Hungary (Emese Bagyi & Zora Daranyi) claimed the bronze.
In the Men’s Relay, Egypt triumphed for the second consecutive year as Aly Aboelfetouh and Ahmed Abdelhamed built on a fine Fencing performance to win by 10sec from Türkiye duo Arda Meric and Emir Kurtulan Muhammet. A thrilling sprint for the medals saw Lukas Lagunavicius and Valeika Liutauras of Lithuania snatch bronze from their Hungarian rivals.
- All you need to know about the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon U17 World Championships
The Relays introduced six days of action culminating with individual Finals on Saturday (September 14) and Mixed Relay on Sunday (September 15).
U17 pentathletes are competing in a five-discipline Pentathlon for the second year, having pioneered the new sequence of Fencing/Obstacle/Swimming/Laser Run that will now be adopted at all levels of Modern Pentathlon.
Champions’ reaction
Women’s Relay gold medallist Allara (ITA) said: “It is a great emotion. I don’t have words now but I am really, really happy. I love the Obstacle course, I really love it because I think I can do my best there. I’ve been training this discipline for two years, since the 2023 European Championships, and I am improving in this sport.
“Obviously I can say I want to go to the Olympics, but I can enjoy all the moments now. Four years is a long time so I can wait for this moment. My dreams is to win an Olympic medal, but this can be later.”
Her partner Beggio (ITA) added: “I was very excited for this moment. I like all disciplines, I love the Obstacle course in general. I trained this discipline for two years. I hope to go to the Olympic Games and win more gold medals in World Championships.”
Men’s Relay gold medallist Aboelfetouh (EGY) said: “It feels good to be back on the podium in a World Championship, and it’s my first Modern Pentathlon World Championship so it feels good to be here and to participate in Portugal.
“My target is that I want to participate in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. It’s going to be the first Olympic Games that is going to have Obstacle in it, so I’m excited and hoping I’m going to participate in LA. This Olympics is my dream.”
“I am participating and doing lots of training sessions in the new discipline, because it’s something new for every modern pentathlete. There have been a lot of hard training sessions and hard work.”
His partner Abdelhamed (EGY) added: “This competition is very good. I’m happy because I’m here on the podium with my friend Aly, and I hope tomorrow to perform well in the individuals. The Obstacle course is very good but the rings can be bad because the wind can move it sometimes.
“I also want to be in Los Angeles 2028, and I want to be a strong competitor.”
Women’s Relay
Egypt (Farida Khalil & Ritage Ramadan) started strongly in Fencing with 19V/7D, one more win than Hungary and two more than the Italians, who then took the Obstacle course by storm to move into pole position with a combined time of 58.10sec.
Germany (Keister/Dicks) recorded the second-best time in Obstacle and competed strongly in Swimming to remain in contention along with the Italians and Hungarians and Egyptians, who were now having to come from behind after struggling in Obstacle. Ukraine (Elizaveta Reznik & Anna Dudka) recorded the best Swimming time of 2min 07.06sec.
A top time of 9:10.18 in Laser Run was not enough to hoist the African challengers back on to the podium, however, as Italy (Allara/Beggio), Germany (Keister/Dicks) and Hungary (Bagyi/Daranyi) all held strong and retained their positions.
Men’s Relay
With 33 victories from a busy round of 40 bouts, Egypt (Aboelfetouh/Abdelhamed) took an early grip on the competition that they would never relinquish. But although they comfortably timed under 1min in Obstacle, so did another five teams and it was Türkiye (Meric/Kurtulan Muhammet) who caught the eye most with an impressive 52.81 to move into the medal equation.
With the Hungarian challenge on the wane, Bulgaria (Georgi Iliev & Tomas Grigorov) advanced with the best Swimming time of 1:55.11. But it was Lithuania (Lagunavicius/Liutauras) who set the standard in Laser Run with a rapid 8:00.57 allowing them to prevail alongside the Turks in that epic sprint finish, with Egypt (Aboelfetouh/Abdelhamed) having already secured their golden glory.
Watch and follow
The UIPM 2024 Pentathlon U17 World Championships runs from September 10-15, continuing on Wednesday, September 11 with the Women’s Individual Qualification. The Men’s Individual Qualification follows on September 12.
Thirty-six female and 36 male athletes then compete in the Fencing Ranking Round on September 13 before competing in the Individual Finals the next day. The Mixed Relay closes the competition on Sunday September 15.
Visit the UIPM website or download UIPM Central from your app store to keep track of live results throughout the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon U17 World Championships.
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