UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Pazardzhik: All You Need To Know
· Mohamed (EGY) aims to extend incredible winning run
· Legendary Jun (KOR) resurfaces to begin LA28 quest
· Guzi (HUN) the woman to beat as Bryson (GBR) and Venckauskaite (LTU) return
Almost 200 pentathletes from 28 nations have gathered in Bulgaria for the second round of the UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup season.
Moutaz Mohamed of Egypt remains a hot favourite in the Men’s event having won every individual competition he has entered since April 2025, most recently his home season-opener in Cairo (EGY). Many eyes will also be on Pentathlon legend Woongtae Jun of Korea as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist and six-time World Cup individual champion begins his bid for glory at Los Angeles 2028.
Like Mohamed (EGY), Blanka Guzi of Hungary started the season in perfect fashion with a gold medal in the year-opener, and will hope to double up in the absence of injured world No.1 Farida Khalil (EGY) and her Olympic champion team-mate, Michelle Gulyas (HUN).
In the same way as Jun (KOR) will be feeling his way back into the sport during his first exposure to the new format including Obstacle racing, the women’s event marks the start of the comeback trail for two of the strongest female athletes of the Paris 2024 cycle, Gintare Venckauskaite of Lithuania and Kerenza Bryson of Great Britain.
With athletes coming from as far and wide as Indonesia, Sierra Leone and Philippines, there is a truly global field on the start line and athletes from countries such as Australia and United States are increasingly coming into Pentathlon from other racing disciplines such as Hyrox and Ironman.
- Take Five: read the key talking points
How it works
Five days of individual competition in the now established sequence of Fencing, Obstacle, Swimming and Laser Run begin on May 13 with Women’s Qualification (see full schedule below).
Fencing features a quickfire direct elimination format where athletes must win 1min bouts to remain in the competition. Prior to the Semi-finals there is a Seeding Round that dictates where athletes are placed in the knockout draw. The results of the Seeding Round remain applicable in the Final for those who qualify.
Fencing is followed by Obstacle, where two athletes race head-to-head over a 70m course featuring eight obstacles.
There is a format change in Swimming, which comes next, with a reduction from 200 to 100 metres freestyle. A time of 1min 10sec results in a score of 250 points, with each 0.2sec quicker or slower resulting in one point more or less.
The total points accumulated in the first three disciplines is used to calculate the starting positions in Laser Run, which has also been subject to a change in format. Athletes now visit the shooting range five times rather than four, meaning the Laser Run begins with a shoot rather than a formation lap. The running distance remains the same (5 x 600m), and the first athlete to cross the line wins. A time of 13min 20sec results in 500 points, with each second faster or slower resulting in one point more or less.
Watch and follow
UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Pazardzhik takes place from May 13-17, with live stream of the Semi-finals and Finals available free on UIPM’s YouTube streaming service.
Daily schedule with stream start times (Central European Summer Time) as follows:
- Wednesday May 13: Women’s Qualification
- Thursday May 14: Men’s Qualification
- Friday May 15: Women’s Semi-final A (13:00); Women’s Semi-final B (16:00) | Men’s and Women’s Fencing Seeding Rounds
- Saturday May 16: Men’s Semi-final A (09:00); Men’s Semi-final B (13:00)
- Sunday May 17: Women’s Final (09:00), Men’s Final (13:00).
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