UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Pazardzhik: Jun (KOR) and Malan (ITA) ready to light up Men’s Final

• Olympic medallists find form to excel in Men’s Semi-finals
• El Ashqar (EGY) resets Obstacle world record with incredible 18.38
• Four qualifiers apiece for Germany and France with three for Italy

Two Olympic bronze medallists emerged as podium frontrunners on an eventful day of Men’s Semi-finals at UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Pazardzhik.

In his first competition of the LA28 cycle, Jun Woongtae of Korea (Tokyo 2020) impressed alongside Giorgio Malan of Italy (Paris 2024) during the first Semi-final. A Fencing injury to world No.1 and world champion Moutaz Mohamed of Egypt had blown the competition wide open, enabling the Italian and Korean duos to finish comfortably in the top four, with Matteo Bovenzi (ITA) and Changwan Seo (KOR) joining their illustrious team-mates in the Final.

At the other end of the top nine, Marvin Faly Dogue of Germany came back from a hazardous position to secure his involvement in Super Sunday, with France duo Valentin Belaud and Jean-Baptiste Mourcia also impressing. The other qualifiers were Fernand Mitterand (GER) and Yuang Ma of China.

In Semi-final B, Mohamed El Ashqar (EGY) stood out with an extraordinary Obstacle world record which enabled him to comfortably qualify for the Final alongside Moritz Klinkert (GER) and Kivanc Tasyaran of Türkiye.

Two UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Championships medallists, Mathis Rochat (FRA) and Matej Lukes of Czechia, were close behind but it was Lukes’ team-mate Marek Grycz (CZE) who suffered the agony of finishing 10th following an overtake by Zsombor Tarkanyi of Hungary. The other qualifiers were Tim Leh (GER), Denis Agavriloaie (ITA) and Leo Bories (FRA).

Click here to view full results from the Men's Semi-finals.

Click here to view photography from the Men’s Semi-finals.

Semi-final A

The injury sustained by Mohamed (EGY) on Piste A not only caused a significant delay to proceedings, it also gave his rivals hope – the young Egyptian has been unbeatable for more than 12 months. In his absence, more seasoned athletes showed their Fencing prowess with a Top 4 of Seo (KOR), Belaud (FRA), Dogue (GER) and Mourcia (FRA). Seo (KOR) came from behind to stun Mourcia (FRA) with a stunning aerial blow, but a masterclass of controlled aggression enabled Belaud (FRA) to stay unbeaten and claim the maximum 250 points.

Belaud (FRA) was one of numerous athletes who faulted on the Obstacle course due to a loose grip. While the pace was hot, the mat took the impact of several drops, most notably Obstacle specialist Moustafa Abouamer (EGY), who lost all momentum when he realised one of the hoops had swung out of its usual position on his initial run, and the eliminated Daniel Lawrynowicz of Poland. The race of the day was between Bovenzi (ITA) and Ma (CHN), who matched each other all the way to the buzzer for identical fastest times of 22.70sec.

Seo (KOR) led the overall standings but only until Swimming, where Bovenzi (ITA) stood out as usual with a stunning 100m of 51.50. An intriguing race between Olympic medallists Malan (ITA) and Jun (KOR) saw both touch the wall in sub-57sec, ensuring they would start Laser Run with a top-nine place to defend.

While Seo (KOR) owned the Laser Run at the top end, it was Dogue (GER) who held his nerve under pressure. After being overtaken by team-mates Belaud (FRA) and Mourcia (FRA), the tall German knew he would have to rein in somebody who had started higher up. At least he knew that Csaba Bohm (HUN), after a poor opening shoot, would not be in the qualification picture – and Dogue (GER) paced himself well and shot consistently. In the end it was Jan Toman (CZE) who relinquished six places and didn’t have enough in the tank to keep up with Dogue (GER) and Ma (CHN) on the final 600m.

Semi-final B

Yauheni Arol (AIN) typically made himself top seed in Fencing and he progressed through the rounds, while local hero Todor Mihalev of Bulgaria had a more eventful journey to the Top 2, accounting for Tasyaran (TUR), Rochat (FRA) and finally El Ashqar (EGY) on his way to the decider. To the delight of the spectators, Mihalev (BUL) overturned the priority to win the decider 5-3.

It was an afternoon of extremes on the Obstacle course, with El Ashqar (EGY) once again the trailblazer. Having broken the 20sec mark for the first time in Qualification, the giant Egyptian made several obstacles look as if they weren’t there as he conquered the course in an astonishing 18.38. That performance alone gave him a 10pt cushion over 2nd-fastest Rochat (FRA) in 21.94, with Lukes (CZE) also excelling. But there were also several casualties, with Charles Brown of Great Britain and Shuai Luo (CHN) incurring damaging double faults and Arol (AIN) suffering elimination.

Rochat (FRA) improved his overall position with an impressive 55.76 in Swimming, while Agavriloaie (ITA) continued his recovery from bottom seed in Fencing to advance towards the Final along with El Ashqar (EGY) and Lukes (CZE).

There was a remarkable performance in Laser Run by Tasyaran (TUR), whose time of 10:15.00 took him right to the top of the standings and clear of all the drama, while Tarkanyi (HUN) also impressed, racing past Grycz (CZE) when he got stuck with a 34sec final shoot.

Watch and follow

UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Pazardzhik concludes on May 17 with the Women’s and Men’s Finals, with live stream available free on UIPM’s YouTube streaming service at the following times (Central European Summer Time):

•           Sunday May 17: Women’s Final (09:00), Men’s Final (13:00).