UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Final: Hungary (Gulyas/Szep) complete golden double

• Elite duo untouchable in Mixed Relay to take nation to top of medal table
• Strong silver for Egypt as Abdelmaksoud and Hamed join forces
• Seong and Jun come from behind to clinch bronze for Korea

 

Michelle Gulyas and Balazs Szep of Hungary finished on a high with a Mixed Relay gold medal at the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Final – enough to take them to the top of the seasonal medal table.

Hungary’s second gold in consecutive days – after a world-record individual performance by Csaba Bohm (HUN) the night before – and fourth of the season enabled the Hungarians to climb above Egypt in the overall medal table after five competitions.

In fairness to Egypt, their total medal haul of 14 far exceeds Hungary’s six – and they added another silver to the remarkable collection thanks to Salma Abdelmaksoud and Ahmed Hamed in the Mixed Relay in Ankara (TUR).

Three different nations were in contention for bronze, and finally it was the class of Korea that told, with Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Woongtae Jun picking up the baton from one of the sport’s most exciting talents, Seungmin Seong.

China finished 4th with a fine Laser Run split from Shuai Luo, in partnership with Mingyu Zhang, leaving Mayan Oliver and Duilio Carrillo of Mexico in 5th and Ukraine duo Valeriya Permykina and Yuriy Kovalchuk completing the top six.

Medallist reaction

Gold medallist Gulyas (HUN) said: “I think we are a great match and when we compete together we pull each other up and bring out the best in each other.

“I think this gold medal represents our friendship, and we train together at home in the same club and team, so it’s nice to get the gold together.”

Team-mate Szep (HUN) added: “My shooting was so bad, so it was good that Michelle did a good combined, it was very good for me.”

Silver medallist Hamed (EGY) said: “We had a 20sec gap between ourselves and Hungary, and we knew that they were very strong in Laser Run, so we decided to do our best to try to close the gap and we did already.

“We didn’t have enough time, but we are happy. It was amazing to compete with Salma for a second time, as we took a gold together in youths. Now we took silver in the World Cup Final, and I think we are successful together.”

Bronze medallist Jun (KOR) said: “This was my first time racing with Seong in the Mixed Relay, and Fencing was a little bit bad, which was stupid of me. But we tried together, step by step.

“Now I will take steps to prepare for the World Championships, and then the Paris Olympic Games. But today the bronze medal made us happy, and thank you so much to my partner.”

Team-mate Seong (KOR) added: “I want to go to the Paris Olympic Games, but the team has to decide. In World Cups this season I got some very good results, and I’m very happy and will keep trying to reach the Olympic Games – maybe I’m 90% there but I will try more at the World Championships. I want to go to Paris.”

Riding

There was a high standard of Riding on the day the discipline made its last appearance in a UIPM competition in Ankara (TUR).

Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Hamed) and Hungary (Gulyas/Szep) both managed to go clear, incurring only three and seven time penalties respectively, while Korea (Seong/Jun) also recorded a satisfying 293.

Fencing

Mexico (Oliver/Carrillo) topped the standings in the Fencing Ranking Round after winning an impressive two-thirds of their bouts – 28 victories and 14 defeats.

However, Hungary (Gulyas/Szep) were only touch behind them in the Bonus Round and claimed the maximum four points in the Bonus Round by defeating Mexico (Oliver/Carrillo) and Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Hamed), who had scored 23V/19D in the Ranking Round.

Ukraine (Permykina/Kovalchuk) were the top beneficiaries of the Bonus Round, winning three bouts for an additional six points.

Swimming

Hungary (Gulyas/Szep) were consistent across all disciplines but only in Swimming did they separate themselves from the competition, and only by a fine margin. A time of 1min 57.94sec was less than a second faster than China (Zhang/Luo) and Korea (Seong/Jun), but it did allow them to gain on Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Hamed) and especially Mexico (Oliver/Carrillo).

As a result, Hungary (Gulyas/Szep) started Laser Run with a 21sec lead over Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Hamed), with Mexico (Oliver/Carrillo) a further 15sec back and with the Asian challenge looming close.

 

Laser Run

Seong (KOR) was immediately on the shoulder of Oliver (MEX) in the first lap, and Zhang (CHN) came into the battle for bronze with a rapid first shoot.

On the second 600m, Seong (KOR) overtook Oliver (MEX) only for the more experienced athlete to hit back in the woods. However, the second shoot was potentially decisive as Seong (KOR) – like Gulyas (HUN) and Abdelmaksoud (EGY) – was out in less than 10sec, while Oliver (MEX) took 23sec to get her five green lights, leaving her with an uphill struggle.

Gulyas (HUN) showed typical precision to keep the gap from Abdelmaksoud (EGY) above 20sec, and it was tempting to ask at the handover whether Jun (KOR) could expand on the great work of Seong (KOR) and put pressure on 2nd-placed Hamed (EGY).

However, the fresh legs of Hamed (EGY) made a nonsense of that theory as attention shifted to the battle for gold. The first visit of Szep (HUN) to the range was not productive, with a 23sec shoot giving 10sec away to Hamed (EGY) and cutting the gap to around 15sec.

With little to separate them in running, it all came down to the final shoot and when Szep (HUN) struggled again – 18sec giving a further 9sec away – there was momentarily only 5sec between the two rivals. Could there be a final twist putting Egypt back on top of that seasonal medal table?

In the end, the answer was no, as Szep (HUN) used his longer stride to good effect on the final lap, stretching away in the woods to secure a hard-earned gold. As a minor consolation to Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Hamed), they owned the best Laser Run time of the day – 12min 41.20sec.

President’s reaction

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “We had a fantastic Mixed Rely concluding the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Final with eight nations participating, and it was so important to see athletes three different continents winning medals – and in fact four continents in the top five.

“We have to underline that our athletes still love the team spirit of the Mixed Relay competition, and we hope in future to see many more nations competing.

“We now move our focus to the showpiece UIPM World Championships in Zhengzhou, combining Laser Run and Modern Pentathlon. This is the last big competition for senior athletes before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and the facilities will be world-class.

“We have an unbelievable stadium where everything will be prepared at a high level for our athletes, as we have seen before in Shanghai, in Wuhan and in Chengdu. The organisation of the Chinese National Federation is always at the top level, as well as the hospitality.

“For athletes, this is really a chance to compete for the last places in the Olympic Games, and also for those who know they cannot qualify to have a big competition and enjoy good placements for their National Federations as a sign for the future, heading in the direction of Los Angeles 2028.

“We will be happy soon to be among many hundreds of athletes competing in Modern Pentathlon and Laser Run at global level. I wish all participants good preparation and safe travel to China where we will have a fantastic challenge before the Olympic Games.”

 

Watch and follow

All competition videos from the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Final are available to subscribers on UIPM.TV where annual packages cost €14.99.

The UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Final is now over and the next competition on the calendar is the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships in Zhengzhou (CHN) from June 7-16.

Visit the UIPM website or download UIPM Central from your app store to keep track of live results. Follow World Pentathlon on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube for additional content throughout the year.