UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Championships: ‘A positive and extraordinary improvement’

• Praise from visiting IOC Members caps milestone week in Kaunas (LTU)
• Obstacle racing and indoor arena provide new dimensions for youth appeal
• 5,000 spectators enjoy ‘connection of sport, show and entertainment’

KAUNAS, LITHUANIA – September 1, 2025: The first indoor edition of the UIPM Pentathlon World Championships has been declared an outstanding success by visiting International Olympic Committee (IOC) Members, who also gave a ringing endorsement of the sport’s new format.

The competition took place at the Zalgiris Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania – one of Europe’s biggest basketball venues – where 5,000 spectators were entertained by DJ and dance performances alongside the thrilling spectacle of pentathletes taking part in a reinvigorated Fencing discipline, the new Obstacle race, Swimming and Laser Run.

Enhanced entertainment value and attractiveness to youth have been strategic pillars of numerous Modern Pentathlon reforms implemented in recent years, and the evolution intensified this season with the full implementation of Obstacle and indoor Pentathlon Arenas being created in Budapest (HUN) and now Kaunas (LTU).

Four IOC Members who attended the Semi-finals and Finals – HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco (UIPM Honorary President), Karl Stoss (Chair of the Olympic Programme Commission), Balázs Furjes and Sergii Bubka – provided feedback on their experience in interviews given to UIPM TV.

IOC Member and UIPM Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco said: “It was a really positive and extraordinary improvement. The sport has undergone so many different transformations over the years and this is the culmination of a lot of brainstorming and a lot of ideas.

“I think it’s very exciting, it makes the competition very thrilling – and very interesting also for the athletes. It is a great format, and in an indoor venue like this it takes on a different dimension, a different meaning. I hope this will be a successful format that everyone could approve of, and that we can showcase this also at the Olympic Games.

“Modern Pentathlon brings out different qualities in an athlete and you really have to be a complete athlete to compete in this sport. It’s not just an accumulation of different disciplines, it is a whole and the training is really interesting. I hope that with the Obstacle added to the competition, it will really be a great point of attraction for young people.”

IOC Member Karl Stoss said: “It's very exciting for the spectators to see five disciplines and one sport in a very short time. This is something special, and it is very exciting also for the spectators to see during the competition how it changed and how fast it changed. And this is the right way, I think, to keep it moving and to move it forward.

“We have to bring [Olympic sport] to the young generation. That's the future for us, and we have to also find formats for the younger ones, as in other sports, it's usual. So we can do it.

“I think the Modern Pentathlon can be a little bit easier with some other formats in between, but we can do it with shorter distance in swimming, for example, or running or obstacles. So we have to be flexible also for the future, but it is the right way of thinking about the young generation. I think this will be a great format and fundamental for the future.”

IOC Member Balázs Furjes said: “First of all, big congratulations to UIPM, the Modern Pentathlon family and of course the LOC in Kaunas, Lithuania, for doing a great job. A great show has been put on stage.

“One of my thoughts was that the Olympic family must really appreciate and must be grateful to the Modern Pentathlon family because we have this famous motto: ‘Change or be changed.’ And I think the Modern Pentathlon International Federation and the family really understood that change needs to be done.

“You are making changes, and I think we have to appreciate that the changes are going absolutely to the right direction. It’s spectacular, attractive, dynamic, so I think it’s very good for the sport.

“In Budapest we were very happy to stage the first indoor World Cup, and I know there are three different type of events that Rob [UIPM President Rob Stull] talks about. One is indoor, the other is a stadium where we could host all the events together, even including a swimming pool in a stadium, and the third one in iconic locations of beautiful cities with the city serving as a backdrop.”

IOC Member Sergii Bubka said: “Well, it’s the first time I have watched the new format of the World Championships in Modern Pentathlon, and I would like to say this is very exciting, very attractive, very interesting. It’s music, it’s very dynamic, it’s active. The athletes, the crowd… it was a great job.

“This will help you to achieve wider development of your sport around the world. This is more attractive and interesting for young people to understand, but also it’s very important there is this connection of sport, show and entertainment.

“For crowds, they must come and find it easy to understand, and they must see activities, changes, the battle, nice movement, some surprises, unpredictable moments. Someone is leading and they maybe collapse on the Obstacle – and the leadership changes. This is something that people want to see.”

On an unforgettable Finals day, UIPM Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco presented Coubertin Medals to Olympic champions Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania, Michelle Gulyas of Hungary and Ahmed Elgendy of Egypt, as well as UIPM Honorary Medals to Andris Kalnins and Juri Krastins of Latvia and Awad Samy of Egypt.

The climax of the competition followed the awarding of multiple 2026-2028 competition and events by the UIPM Executive Board, including a return to the USA ahead of the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Pictured with UIPM Executive Board Members in Kaunas, Lithuania: IOC Member Balazs Furjes (4th from left), UIPM President Rob Stull (5th from left), UIPM Honorary President and IOC Member HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco (6th from left), and IOC Member Karl Stoss (6th from right)