UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest: Khalil (EGY) keeps Hungarians at bay in Women’s Semi-finals

• Starlet, 14, continues to impress with Obstacle speed and all-round skills
• Gulyas and Guzi among five Hungary athletes to reach Women’s Final
• Two debutantes from China also qualify on day of intense competition

Teenage phenomenon Farida Khalil of Egypt continued to lead from the front at UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest, showing a mastery of Obstacle as she stood out in the Women’s Semi-finals.

Khalil (EGY) proved to be undaunted by the presence of the Paris 2024 Olympic champion, Michelle Gulyas of Hungary, aiming for gold in her home capital city and competing in the same group. The 14-year-old won Semi-final B with a points total of 1,415, leaving Gulyas (HUN) and team-mate Emma Meszaros (HUN) more than 20sec behind.

The host nation also featured strongly in Semi-final A, thanks to world No.2 Blanka Guzi (HUN) finishing first alongside Aurora Tognetti of Italy.

So will Khalil (EGY) hold off the mighty European challenge – including five Hungarians – in the Women’s Final on Super Saturday?

Tognetti (ITA) and Coline Flavin of France go into the Final as the top-seeded fencers on the back of scoring 23V/12D in a highly competitive Seeding Round. Gulyas (HUN) managed 20 victories and Khalil (EGY) won 19 of her bouts, keeping both very much in contention.

Semi-final A was won by Guzi (HUN) and Tognetti (ITA) scoring 1,381 points apiece, with Flavin (FRA) crossing just 1sec behind them. Debutante Jing Fu of China held on to 9th place to reach the Final in her first elite Pentathlon competition.

Anna Jurt of Switzerland recorded the fastest Laser Run but it was to no avail as she had already been eliminated in Obstacle, where Flavin (FRA) achieved the best time of 40.76sec. Jing (CHN) set the pace in the pool with a Swimming time of 2min 14.77sec and the Fencing round was won by Elzbieta Adomaityte of Lithuania, defeating Johanna Maria Jogisu of Estonia in the final bout.

Semi-final B was more eventful, especially in Obstacle where Khalil (EGY) timed a brilliant 35.76 and Meszaros (HUN) also went under 40sec – but there was also drama as Mariya Gnedtchik (AIN) suffered a fractured wrist as she fell from the course and became the third athlete eliminated.

Veronika Novotna of Czechia won the Fencing round after defeating Yuri Kim of Korea in the final bout, and Gulyas (HUN) was comfortably the best performer in Swimming with a time of 2:11.83.

Lucie Hlavackova (CZE) scorched the Laser Run course in 11:11.54 to move up from 12th overall to 4th. Yizhuo Liu (CHN), another debutante, joined team-mate Fu (CHN) in the Final after finishing 6th, and Rebecca Castaudi (FRA) moved up two places to steal a Final berth from Kim (KOR).

• UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest: All you need to know

Pentathlon World Cup Budapest continues tomorrow (April 25) with the Men's Semi-finals, followed by the Women’s and Men’s Finals on April 26.

Live stream of the Semi-finals and Finals is available free on UIPM TV and all competition results are available at the UIPM website.

The following 18 athletes qualified for the Women's Final: