UIPM 2025 Pentathlon Junior World Championships: Women’s Semi-finals
New records, narrow misses and last-minute winners made it an eventful day in the women’s semi-finals of the UIPM 2025 Pentathlon Junior World Championships in Szekesfehervar (HUN).
Unlike last year’s event which went straight from Qualifications to the Final, the 36 semi-finalists were made to battle for the all-important top 18 positions in each of two groups.
Starting with Semi-final A in the morning, teenage phenomenon Farida Khalil of Egypt set her second world record of the week in Hungary as she beat Josefine Unterberger of Germany’s Overall Junior Women’s points record by one point (1408) in finishing clear of the field.
It followed the World No.2’s stellar 27.581sec Obstacle run in Qualification. On an adjusted course and in slippery conditions, Khalil (EGY) timed 32.50 this time and was pipped to the top of the Warped Wall in Semi-final A by Amaya El-Masri (GER).
In fact, the time of 31.66 set by El-Masri (GER) and 350 points turned out to be a game changer.
Despite Unterberger (GER) putting in a grand effort in the Laser Run with a time of 11min 25.91sec to overtake El Masri (GER), the 2023 champion’s points deficit was too great having been part of a bunch start. El-Masri (GER) duly became the ninth finalist from Semi-final A.
The drama continued in the afternoon Fencing during Semi-final B. Zeina Amer (EGY) produced an inspiring comeback from 4-2 down to tie the scores 4-4 against Emma Herbak of Hungary in the dying seconds of their fight and as the higher seed booked a placed into the last four.
Malak Ismail (EGY) ended up victorious in Fencing and with a 5th place in Obstacle and 3rd in Swimming, she finished first with 1375 points from Semi-final B.
In the Laser Run, the excitement came from the chasing pack. Coline Flavin of France and Lucie Hlavackova of Czechia were 10th and 11th respectively heading into the discipline. Hlavackova (CZE) sped through in 11:48.89 while European Junior silver medallist Flavin (FRA) kept up an incredible pace to beat Viktoriia Sazanova (AIN) and Amer (EGY) for the crucial 9th position.
The 19-year-old French pentathlete was truly spent, collapsing onto the track as soon as she crossed the finish line. She will have a full day to recover though as the Women’s Finals are on Sunday.
Click here for a full list of the 18 athletes who qualified for the Women’s Final.
Live stream of the Semi-finals and Finals is available free on UIPM TV and YouTube and all competition results are available at the UIPM website.
The UIPM 2025 Pentathlon Junior World Championships continues until June 29, based on the following schedule (YouTube live coverage times in Central European Summer Time).
Saturday June 28: Men’s Semi-final A (LIVE from 13:00); Men’s Semi-final B (LIVE from 16:30)
Sunday June 29: Women’s Final (LIVE from 13:00); Men’s Final (LIVE from 17:30).
