UIPM 2025 Pentathlon Junior World Championships: Finals report, reaction and links
- Teen queen Khalil (EGY) breaks new ground with first junior world title
- Comeback king Mohamed (EGY) goes back-to-back
- Medals for Hlavackova (CZE), Sych (UKR), Ismail (EGY) and Tamas (HUN)
In Hungary’s ‘city of kings’, a new regal order in Pentathlon continued to emerge with Egypt’s dynamic duo Farida Khalil and Moutaz Mohamed living up to their status as favourites on Finals day at the UIPM 2025 Pentathlon Junior World Championships.
Both 14-year-old Khalil (EGY) and 20-year-old Mohamed (EGY) extended their own world records by a significant margins on an unforgettable Super Sunday.
In the Women’s Final, Khalil (EGY) even had the luxury of conceding a 10-point penalty as she held off the challenge of two Paris 2024 Olympians who joined her on the podium, Lucie Hlavackova of Czechia and Malak Ismail (EGY).
A few hours later, Mohamed (EGY) had to do it the hard way, making his way up from the bottom half of the pack after two disciplines. Once he got going on, nobody looked remotely able to stop him and Danylo Sych of Ukraine led his nation to a team gold via individual silver while Botond Tamas gave host nation Hungary something to cheer with a battling bronze.
Click here to read the Women’s Final report
Click here to read the Men’s Final report
Click here to view photography from both Finals
Medallist reaction
Women’s gold medallist Khalil (EGY) said: “I’m aiming next week to win the gold medal in the World Cup Final and then the gold medal in the senior World Championships.
“I can’t overthink anything, I take everything step by step. When I’m doing Fencing, all I’m thinking about is Fencing, when I’m Swimming all I’m thinking is the Swimming and in the Laser Run it’s shot by shot, run by run.
“I say thanks to all of my team, especially my brother, and my whole family have come overseas to support me. I also want to thank my coaches and the Ministry of Sport.”
Women’s silver medallist Hlavackova (CZE) said: “It's my first medal in all UIPM categories and all competitions, so I'm so grateful. Today the race just worked out for me. I always start with the same mindset. I just do the best that I can and I did that.
“The season after an Olympics is always a bit different. But this is one of the major competitions that I started in this season, and I feel great. Hopefully, I can feel the same as now in future events.”
Women’s bronze medallist Ismail (EGY) said: “I tried to push so much in the running, I didn't have the best shooting, so I tried to push in the running. In the last 200 metres my legs were dead, so I couldn’t finish with Lucie.
“I will have a couple of days off, easy running, easy swimming. I hope that my body can recover well for the World Cup Final that happens in just a week.”
Men’s gold medallist Mohamed (EGY) said: “I feel amazing today that I defended my title again. At first, Fencing didn't go as planned. I got knocked out at the Round of 16, did an average Obstacle course … but then I did a great swim.
“After Swimming, I started in 6th place. He [James Hulme] had a 35sec head start on me but I’ve done it before so I knew I could catch him. I am very proud of this achievement. It's my last Junior year so I'm very happy that it ended that way. It's amazing.
“In a few days I will be competing at the World Cup Final in Egypt so I have to start my recovery from now. Get ready, get my mind straight. Don't celebrate too much and get ready for the next competition with great recovery.
“Thank you, Mum and Dad and all the coaches, in the whole team. Today is over but I’d like to thank you one by one. We will prepare for the next period step by step and hopefully it will turn out like this.”
Men’s silver medallist Sych (ITA) said: “I came here as a silver medallist from the European Championships and I wanted to repeat this success. In my mind, I wanted to take a medal. Thanks a lot to our coaches, and to our government because in this difficult situation, it's very important to come here and to bring success to Ukraine.
“In one month, we will have the senior European Championships. We are preparing for this competition as well and the next goal is to be successful at this competition.
“Thank you to my family because they’re the biggest support for every athlete. Thanks to all those who are with me at this period and also to the organisers, to the volunteers and to everybody who created this competition.”
Men’s bronze medallist Tamas (HUN) said: “This was my first time competing at a very big competition in front of my country and I felt like the last 100m in every lap was free for me, because I didn't feel any pain. I just heard my crowd cheer me and that's why it was a lot easier for me to compete.
“It's been a really tough season for me because I’ve competed in the senior field, so I'm really tired. Luckily, I will get one week off, go to the mountains, to hike and go completely relax. But after that I will continue training and hopefully I will chase other dreams in the senior field.”
“Thank you very much to everyone for your support, to everyone who is watching, to everyone who came out and I'm glad I was able to bring you a little smile and joy. So, thank you for everything.””
UIPM reaction
UIPM President Rob Stull OLY said: “Whenever you come to Hungary, you always have expectations, and they always exceed your expectations. I've never had a bad experience in Hungary and again the Hungarian Modern Pentathlon Association are living up to their reputation. Our expectations are again exceeded.
“The UIPM Junior Pentathlon World Championships, of course, is a special event for us in terms of development. Congratulations to Egypt and Ukraine on their gold medals, there is some incredible new talent emerging alongside the medallists in the Women's Final who were already prominent in the sport having competed in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“I'm sure all these athletes have LA28 in their sights. Being from America, it's wonderful to see the faces that that are starting to emerge to be the front runners on the race to Los Angeles. The Olympics itself is going to be an amazing experience, but the road to LA in itself is a tremendous race, a tremendous competition.
“I can't say enough good things about Hungary as organisers and as people. The warm hospitality here is part of their DNA; it's part of their lifeblood. We love coming here and we love being here.”
Watch and follow
The UIPM 2025 Pentathlon Junior Championships have now concluded and the next major competition on the calendar is the UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Final in Alexandria (EGY) from July 4-6.
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