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World Urban Games Budapest 2019: History will be made with Sprint Laser Run showcase

UIPM News

A group of Laser Run specialists and pentathletes will make history as the first UIPM athletes to participate in the World Urban Games later this year in Budapest, Hungary.

The athletes who qualify for the inaugural event – eight men and eight women from visiting countries and the same quota from host nation Hungary – will compete in Sprint Laser Run in front of a global TV audience.

The Sprint Laser Run format is four laps of 400m running and four laser rounds of shooting demanding athletes to hit five targets in 50secs.

There will be a Men’s Final, a Women’s Final and a Mixed Relay during the three days of competition (September 13-15) with a limit of one athlete per gender from each visiting country.

The qualification system will see some athletes earn their place through performances in the 2018 UIPM Laser Run World Championships in Dublin (IRL) and the first two Pentathlon World Cups of 2019 in Cairo (EGY) and Sofia (BUL), with others qualifying based on their Laser Run world rankings. Four continents must be represented in each gender category.

Laser Run takes its place on the programme of this inaugural event as a showcase sport, alongside indoor rowing. When the WUG returns to Budapest (HUN) in 2021, UIPM is in discussions with the organisers about Laser Run becoming an official competition sport.

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “Our global sporting community is excited to be part of the World Urban Games Budapest 2019.

“As UIPM’s most popular and fastest-growing development sport, Laser Run will be an excellent addition to the programme and we are delighted that it was successful in the selection process – more than 20 sports were nominated for inclusion.

“I am sure that we will have some very high-quality athletes, both Laser Run specialists and pentathletes, representing our movement in Budapest and they will be excellent ambassadors for UIPM Sports.”

Viacheslav Malishev, UIPM Executive Board Member for Development, added: “The World Urban Games will be another important landmark in the growth of Laser Run.

“Along with Biathle and Triathle, this sport is giving many people around the world an entry point into UIPM Sports and Laser Run, an urban sports phenomenon, will sit very comfortably alongside the other sports on show in Budapest.”

The sports on the competition programme for 2019 are 3x3 basketball, BMX freestyle, breaking, roller freestyle, parkour and flying disc. You can discover more about World Urban Games Budapest at the GAISF website.

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