UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Final: Dogue (GER) and El Ashqar (EGY) dominate Men’s Semi-finals

Marvin Dogue of Germany and Mohamed El Ashqar of Egypt will take precious momentum into the Super Sunday Men’s Final of the UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Final after winning their respective Semi-finals.

In a high-quality field, Dogue (GER) continued his form from the recent World Cup leg in Budapest and parlayed his second place in Fencing into a consistent run through Semi-final A, crossing the line ahead of an intense pack.

El Ashqar (EGY) was terrific in Semi-final B, ruling over his rivals in the Obstacle and then recording the fastest swim to ensure even a brief struggle in Laser Run could not derail his supremacy.

Semi-final A

Leo Bories of France and Dogue (GER) entered the Fencing top-ranked and they lived up to their billing by reaching the final with the Frenchman securing a 3-2 victory with a hit to the thigh with 3.5sec left. He conceded just two points en route through the elimination rounds, inflicting a 5-1 defeat on Daniel Grove of South Africa in the Round of 8 before an identical score against Pau Salomo of Spain in the semi.

Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Giorgio Malan of Italy moved into the overall lead with a time of 25.2sec in the Obstacle round, narrowly dislodging Bories (FRA), while Salomo (ESP) recorded the quickest time of 22.8 to move up to 4th.

A fall was a major setback for world No.1 Moutaz Mohamed (EGY), leaving him down in 16th, while a yellow flag missed by Fernand Mitterand (GER) saw all his points deduced and effectively took him out of contention.

Mohamed (EGY) fought back in Swimming, winning his 100m freestyle heat in 53.94sec while Juan Ochoa of Guatemala prevailed in a blanket finish in the second heat. Malan (ITA) impressively pulled away in the final heat to come out first in 53.82sec and extend his overall advantage to 20 points.

With five laps of a 600m course taking place in 36C outdoor temperatures, a show of strength was needed and it came from Dogue (GER) who crossed first in 10min 50sec to sweep into the final with 1563 points. He was just 3sec ahead of Lukasz Gutkowski of Poland, with Matous Tuma of Czechia rounding out the top three ahead of Malan (ITA) and Bories (FRA).

The scrap to make the top nine cut went back and forth with Jean-Baptiste Mourcia (FRA) making the biggest gain of seven places and the first-rate shooting of Kivanc Tasyaran of Türkiye elevating him to 7th.

Mohamed (EGY) made a decisive move on the run to secure eighth and Salomo (ESP) snatched the 9th and final berth in the final by just 2sec from Liuchang Li of China – with Changwan Seo (KOR), a winner on the Pentathlon World Cup circuit this season, one spot behind and exiting.

Semi-final B

Jonghyeon Lee (KOR) shook off his 16th seeding to deliver a brilliant run all the way from the Top 32 round to take a surprise victory in the fencing of the second semi-final. The 28-year-old knocked out four higher-ranking opponents on the way to the final, eventually hitting Uladzislau Nestserau of Belarus on the counter to claim a 5-2 win.

It came after he had ousted home favorite Balazs Szep (HUN) in the semis while Nestserau (BLR), seeded 14th in Semi-final B, had his own expected charge that saw him overcome Mohamed Hassan (EGY) in the Top 4.

El Ashqar (EGY), as the world record holder in the Obstacle event, showed a mix of technique and raw speed for a best time of 20.2sec that propelled him into the top four.

Hassan (EGY), his compatriot, was almost as flawless with a mark of 22.0 which took him into overall lead on points, just ahead of Lee (KOR) who lost critical fractions on the Wall to drop back to 2nd.

The freestyle ability of El Ashqar (EGY) saw him brilliantly seize the lead headed into the Laser Run with the quickest overall time in the pool of 52.85sec, translating into an 8sec advantage over Hassan. Andres Torres of Ecuador was a full length clear in winning his heat in 53.09 while Matej Lukes (CZE) came out ahead in his heat 54.79 to propel the world No.2 into 7th place.

A healthy time advantage at the start of the Laser run allowed El Ashqar (EGY) to shake off a tricky second shoot to seal top spot and sweep confidently into Sunday’s Final, saluting the crowd as he crossed the line. It left the Egyptian on 1559 points, five clear of Nestserau (BLR) with Szep (HUN), Marek Grycz (CZE) and Moriz Klinkert (GER) rounding out the top five.

Lee (KOR) dropped down to 6th and Hassan 7th but in what became a thrilling five-way fight to beat the cut, Shuai Luo (CHN) made up five places with a barnstorming run into eighth that pipped Lukes (CZE) on the line, with all nine qualifiers now readying for a shot at the title.

Watch and follow

The UIPM 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Final continues tomorrow (June 28) with the Women’s and Men’s Finals

Live stream is available free on UIPM TV and all competition results are available at the UIPM website.