UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Final: Khalil (EGY) continues to set the world alight with Women’s Final gold
Farida Khalil of Egypt continued to take the Pentathlon world by storm with another golden career milestone in front of home supporters at the UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Final in Alexandria (EGY).
Wearing an LA28 wristband in a nod to her Olympic dream, 14-year-old phenomenon Khalil (EGY) won her fourth title of the season by an astonishing margin of 27sec, and now only the senior world title and Olympic gold separate her from the full collection.
This was the first major event of the 2025 season and having won bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 2024 world champion Seungmin Seong of Korea reasserted her class with a gutsy silver medal, followed across the line by bronze medallist Blanka Guzi of Hungary.
The silver and bronze medallists showed typical tenacity to come from behind in Laser Run, forcing pre-race leader Malgorzata Karbownik of Poland and Aurora Tognetti of Italy to accept 4th and 5th respectively, with Coline Flavin of France coming 6th.
Fencing
After a fairly devastating day for their team in the Men’s Semi-finals, where Giorgio Malan and Matteo Cicinelli crashed out, the Italians dominated the Fencing Direct Elimination with Tognetti (ITA) and Alice Rinaudo (ITA) claiming first and second respectively.
Seong (KOR) caused a stir, defeating Malak Ismail (EGY) 5-2 and stopping Flavin (FRA) in the Quarter-finals. Living up to her top seeding, Tognetti (ITA) showed tenacity to come back from 0-3 against Anna Jurt of Switzerland. Team-mate Rinaudo (ITA) then claimed a huge scalp by knocking out Khalil (EGY) on a 4-2 scoreline.
Into the Semi-finals, Tognetti (ITA) remained calm to halt the run of Seong (KOR), before Rinaudo (ITA) did the same to the impressive Karbownik (POL), ensuring an all-Italian Final. Rinaudo (ITA) attacked with precision to cancel out a 0-2 lead, but could not land a third blow and the No.1 seed prevailed for the maximum 250 points.
- Tognetti (ITA) 250pts
- Rinaudo (ITA) 244pts
- Seong (KOR) 238pts
Obstacle
The 17-year-old Vivienne Meyer (SUI) set the tone first up with a time of 37.62sec, her quick hands enabling her to speed through the Climbing Holds.
On a challenging course, Ilke Ozyuksel of Türkiye and Blanka Bauer (HUN) faulted on the Flying Hoops and by the time they reached the top of the Warped Wall, they could tell that a time in excess of 1min would be difficult to come back from.
There was a terrific race between Guzi (HUN) and Rebecca Castaudi (FRA) before the final three head-to-heads determined how the top of the standings would evolve.
Living up to her billing, Khalil (EGY) propelled herself across the course for the quickest time of the weekend, 29.20, while Flavin (FRA) beside her remained in contention. Karbownik (POL) mastered the course but missed the buzzer twice in the final lunge. Tognetti (ITA) made no such mistake with an excellent 33.35 that allowed her to stay seven points clear of Khalil (EGY) overall.
- Khalil (EGY) 358pts
- Tognetti (ITA) 345pts
- Karbownik (POL) 341pts
Overall: Tognetti (ITA) 595; Khalil (EGY) 588; Karbownik (POL) 577
Swimming
A determined victory in the second heat enabled Seong (KOR) to improve her overall position from 8th to 5th, with a time of 2min 14.33sec that was only marginally bettered in the final heat. Guzi (HUN) similarly progressed from 9th to 6th overall to make sure the leaders in Laser Run would have to keep looking over their shoulders.
In the final heat, Khalil (EGY) duly delivered with a 2:14.07 victory but Tognetti (ITA) in Lane 1 did enough to retain the overall lead, if only just.
- Khalil (EGY) 282pts
- Seong (KOR) 282pts
- Guzi (HUN) 280pts
Overall: Tognetti (ITA) 871; Khalil (EGY) 870; Karbownik (POL) 853
Laser Run
If anybody expected Khalil (EGY) to spend time on the shoulder of race leader Tognetti (ITA), pacing herself during the formation lap, they were in for a disappointment as the teenager immediately raced past her opponent and into the lead.
Leading a race is something that the 14-year-old appears naturally comfortable with, and there was no sign of anxiety as she rattled through her shoots, missing only one or two on each visit. The starlet started with 11sec and followed up with 10sec and 13sec, finishing with another decisive 10sec. Given her running strength and comfort in the heat, there was no stopping the local champion from sealing her greatness. But Seong (KOR) certainly did her best to achieve the impossible.
Moving quickly past Flavin (FRA) into 4th, the world champion shot superbly and made her big move on the third 600m, running past Karbownik (POL) and then Tognetti (ITA), whose first shoot effectively extinguished her medal hopes.
Karbownik (POL) is arguably the best shooter in the sport and she kept pressure on her rivals at every visit to the range, but Seong (KOR) proved her all-round Laser Run brilliance (11:16.25), bettered only on the day by Guzi (HUN) who went even faster in 11min 14.69sec.
On the final lap, the main intrigue surrounded the battle for bronze, where Guzi (HUN) muscled her way into the coveted 3rd position and even spared enough energy to sprint towards Seong (KOR) on the back straight, finishing within 3sec of her.
- Guzi (HUN) 626pts
- Seong (KOR) 624pts
- Heredia (ESP) 617pts
Overall: Khalil (EGY) 1470; Seong (KOR) 1443; Guzi (HUN) 1440.
The UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Final concludes later today (July 6) with the Men's Final starting at 15:00 CEST.
Live stream is available free on YouTube and UIPM TV and all competition results are available at the UIPM website and via the UIPM Central app.
