UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Championships: Seong & Seo deliver Mixed Relay gold for Korea
A sign of things to come in the Individual competitions? Two of the world’s leading pentathletes, Seungmin Seong and Changwan Seo, signalled the intent of Korea as they delivered Mixed Relay gold on Day 2 of the UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Championships in Guiyang (CHN).
Seong (KOR), the 2024 world champion and Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist, teamed up with UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Pazardzhik winner Seo (KOR) to dominate the contest and prevail by 18sec from Belarus, who built on their Women’s Relay victory with a silver medal shared by Viyaleta Hureyeva and Yauheni Arol. A brilliant Laser Run of 13min 01.50sec saw them scamper past Hungary duo Blanka Guzi and Zsombor Tarkanyi, who had to settle for bronze.
The top six was completed by heavyweights Russia, China and Egypt, who gave a welcome recall to 2025’s all-conquering teenage phenomenon Farida Khalil.
Seong & Seo (KOR) were the last team standing in Fencing, defeating Russia’s Alisa Melikhova and Petr Borshchev in the Top 2 bout. Swimming saw an unexpected success for Yu Hei Liu and Chun Hei Shum of Hong Kong, China, whose time of 52.29sec was narrowly quicker than the Russians’ 52.54.
Laser Run was dominated by the Belarusians as Hureyeva & Arol moved past women’s world No.1 Guzi (HUN) and team-mate Tarkanyi (HUN), but the Koreans were untouchable at the front of the field. Placing 6th in all three disciplines showed the consistency of the host nation, represented by Xiyao Wu and Shuai Luo.
Watch and follow
The UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Championships take place from August 24-30, with livestream of the Semi-finals and Finals available to watch free on YouTube based on the following schedule (TV start times listed in Central European Summer Time):
Wednesday August 26
- Men’s Qualification
Thursday August 27
- Women’s Qualification
- Men’s Fencing Seeding Round
Friday August 28
- Men’s Semi-final A (07:00)
- Men’s Semi-final B (10:30)
- Women’s Fencing Seeding Round
Saturday August 29
- Women’s Semi-final A (07:00)
- Women’s Semi-final B (10:30)
Sunday August 30
- Men’s Final (07:00)
- Women’s Final (10:30)
Got the app? Download UIPM Central via Apple or Google to track what’s happening in China.
You can also visit the UIPM website for the latest results and daily news.
Follow UIPM on your favourite social media throughout the season for more content:
Upcoming events
