UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest: Koleszar (HUN) and Bohm (HUN) excel in Men’s Semi-finals

Budapest went into overdrive as Hungary’s heroes performed superbly in the Men’s Semi-finals at UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest.

Mihaly Koleszar was the dominant force in Semi-final A, topping the Obstacle standings and coming 2nd in Fencing, and 2024 world champion Csaba Bohm followed suit in Semi-final B, qualifying comfortably for the Super Saturday Men’s Final behind top performers Yuriy Kovalchuk of Ukraine and Mohamed El Ashqar of Egypt.

Semi-final A

Hundreds of spectators had already filed into the BOK Sports Centre and they were quickly exercising their whistles and their voices as Koleszar (HUN) embarked on a trademark winning run in Fencing. It was finally halted by the towering Oleksandr Tovkai (UKR), but not before Koleszar (HUN) had made it to the Top 4 and pushed Tovkai (UKR) all the way.

Tovkai (UKR) had already despatched one great Korean, Jun, in the Top 16 – could Jun’s team-mate get revenge in the Top 2? Changwan Seo of Korea, having beaten Mohamed Hassan (EGY) in the Top 4, killed that notion with another strong performance to attain the maximum 250 points.

In Obstacle, there were some early faults as athletes took risks on the Flying Hoops, but soon the rhythm kicked in and Matous Tuma of Czechia set the tone with a 23.47. Maksim Maruk of Belarus went marginally quicker and then the crowd held their breath to see what Koleszar (HUN) could do. In a thrilling race with Hassan (EGY), the local hero seized the moment and nailed his tactics, skipping across the Climbing Holds with remarkable agility to set a new best time of 22.32 and delight the roaring crowd.

That would have been enough to give Koleszar (HUN) a share of the lead with Hassan (EGY), but Seo (KOR) was not in the mood to be upstaged and his time of 24:57 in the final race extended his overall lead to seven points.

Several athletes made gains from the lower regions of the leaderboard in Swimming, chief among them Fernand Mitterrand of Germany (54.26), Charles Brown of Great Britain (55.09) and Botond Tamas (HUN, 55.15). Jun (KOR) also moved into an overall position of 8th as the top nine began to take shape.

To the joy of the locals, Koleszar (HUN) made serene progress through the five circuits of Laser Run in 2nd place, happy to let Seo (KOR) retain the lead before flipping the 1-2 at the fourth shoot and enjoying the love of the crowd on his victory lap. Dominik Olejarz (GER) shot brilliantly to sit comfortably in 3rd with the pack far behind him, and Brown (GBR) also made a decisive break, leaving the battle for 9th between Tuma (CZE), Leo Bories of France and Petr Borshchev (AIN).

Finally, Tuma (CZE) and Bories (FRA) held their nerve at the fifth shoot and ran confidently to catch up with a decelerating pack who were all playing second fiddle to Koleszar (HUN) in the eyes of an elated crowd.

Semi-final B

Again the locals had plenty to cheer about in Fencing, as 5th seed Bohm (HUN) fought his way successfully into the Top 4. There were upsets as none of the top four seeds lived up their billing: Dogue (GER) fell out in the Top 16, and El Ashqar (EGY) followed with a demise at the hands of Kovalchuk (UKR) in the Top 8.

Sebastian Forrest (GBR) progressed well to complete the Top 4 alongside Bohm (HUN), Marek Grycz of Czechia and Moriz Klinkert (GER). Finally Klinkert (GER) was the last man standing.

Having broken another Obstacle world record in Qualification (17.34sec), the phenomenal El Ashqar (EGY) had to adjust to a slightly different course, but it didn’t appear to faze him as he propelled himself to another untouchable time of 18.42. That gave him a 12-point gain over the field as Forrest (GBR) impressed with 22.52 and Emilien Maire (FRA) 23.06. Again there were no eliminations but Klinkert (GER) lost significant ground by timing just over 30sec, a sign of how competitive the discipline is becoming.

The 50sec wonder struck again in Swimming as Matteo Bovenzi (ITA) made another major gain with a time of 50.84sec, collecting 18 points more than nearest rivals El Ashqar (EGY) and Lukasz Gutkowski of Poland, both of whom broke 55sec. It meant that El Ashqar (EGY) took an overall lead of 18 points ahead of Forrest (GBR), with Bovenzi (ITA) and Bohm (HUN) close behind.

In Laser Run, much of the attention was on Bohm (HUN) as he built on a starting position of 4th, and this may have helped El Ashqar (EGY) to relax as he completed the business of a leader. Bovenzi (ITA) faltered with his laser pistol, giving hope to the middle-ranked hopefuls as Dogue (GER) made a stunning move from 11th into the top seven. At the final shoot it was Maksym Aharushev (UKR) who broke into the qualification places, managing to keep distance between himself and 10th-placed Lukasz Gutkowski of Poland, and up ahead his team-mate Kovalchuk (UKR) overtook El Ashqar (EGY) during the final stages for the satisfaction of finishing 1st.

Watch and follow

UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest takes place from June 9-13, with live stream of the Semi-finals and Finals available free on UIPM’s YouTube streaming service.

Finals schedule with stream start times (Central European Summer Time) as follows:

•           Friday June 12: Women’s Final (16:00)  

•           Saturday June 13: Men’s Final (11:00).