UIPM 2026 Pentathlon Junior & U17 World Championships: All You Need To Know
- Combined World Championships in Kaunas (LTU) attracts 330 pentathletes
- European junior champions Jurt (SUI) and Rybak (UKR) in top form
- Egypt pin hopes on new contenders after triple Junior / U17 gold in 2025
KAUNAS, LITHUANIA: July 23, 2026 – It’s not so much a glimpse of the future as a full-blown view of new Pentathlon horizons. Around 330 young pentathletes have gathered in Lithuania to compete for global titles and show what they can do in the new format that’s had the global community buzzing all season.
That said, it’s about much more than numbers. An impressive feature of this week’s combined World Championships is the range of participants. At the lower end of the age scale, two competitors are still aged 13: Yu-en Lee of Chinese Taipei and Omar Alshammeri of Kuwait. At the higher end, there is one Olympian in the field – Lucie Hlavackova of Czechia – as well as the Senior Women’s Obstacle world record-holder, Florina Jurt of Switzerland.
Seven days of individual competition in the sequence of Fencing, Obstacle, Swimming and Laser Run begin on July 23 with the Junior Women’s Qualification and U17 Men’s Relay (see full schedule below) at the Lithuanian Sports University Kaunas and the President Valdas Adamkus Athletics Arena.
So who will emerge triumphant and claim the crowns worn by Farida Khalil (both age groups) and Moutaz Mohamed of Egypt, and Nemere Szecsi of Hungary, last season?
The Junior (Under 22) title is the most prestigious apart from the senior World Championship, and it also serves as a strong form guide ahead of the next Olympic Games, with many among this age group expected to be close to their physical peak in Los Angeles in 2028.
Apart from Jurt (SUI), who won the recent European Junior Championships title, and Hlavackova (CZE), senior top-12-ranked Malgorzata Karbownik of Poland and Ganah Elgindy (EGY) will have their eyes on the prize, as will France duo Colin Flavin and Mathilde Derval and Hungary pair Blanka Bauer and Emma Meszaros.
On the men’s side, 2025 silver and bronze medallists Danylo Sych of Ukraine (ranked 17 at senior level) and Botond Tamas (HUN) could be hard to stop, although Sych’s team-mate Oleg Rybak (UKR) defeated both of them to become European junior gold medallist in Barcelona (ESP).
Meanwhile, the Egyptians have accumulated so many age-group golds in men’s Pentathlon it would be folly to write off the likes of Omar Amer (EGY), Mohamed Hassan (EGY) and Mohamed Elgendy (EGY) as the younger brother of Olympic champion Ahmed continues his recovery from injury.
Watch and follow
The UIPM 2026 Pentathlon Junior & U17 World Championships take place from July 23-29, with livestream of the Junior Semi-finals and Finals available to watch free on YouTube based on the following schedule (TV times listed in Central European Summer Time):
Thursday July 23
- U17 Men’s Relay
- Junior Women’s Qualification
Friday July 24
- U17 Women’s Relay
- Junior Men’s Qualification
Saturday July 25
- U17 Men’s Qualification
- Junior Women’s Semi-finals
- Semi-final A (09:00)
- Semi-final B (15:00)
Sunday July 26
- U17 Women’s Qualification
- Junior Men’s Semi-finals
- Semi-final A (09:00)
- Semi-final B (15:00)
Monday July 27
- U17 Men’s Final
- Junior Finals
- Women’s Final (09:00)
- Men’s Final (14:00)
Tuesday July 28
- U17 Women’s Final
- Junior Women’s Relay & Men’s Relay
Wednesday July 29
- U17 Mixed Relay
- Junior Mixed Relay
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