International German Masters Championships in Modern Pentathlon and Tetrathlon

The International German Masters Championships in Modern Pentathlon and Tetrathlon have been hailed as a major milestone in the history of Masters Pentathlon.

As well as some top class action on the field of play from the athletes, there were a number of aspects which made this particular event that little bit more special.

Firstly, the record turnout of 41 athletes from 13 nations - encompassing new members of the Masters Family from Italy and Monaco - is to be applauded as is the work of Beate Schenkel and his organising committee including Joerg Engelhardt, head of the Sachsen-Anhalt Pentathlon Federation, for their attention to detail.

The Championships also heralded the much anticipated debut within an international Masters competition of laser pistols for the Combined Event.

To ease the transition, a laser shooting range was set up by Pentashot in the athletes hotel to allow them to familiarise themselves with the new technology ahead of the competition and have their own precision air pellet pistols converted, and precisely adjusted, to laser.

This clearly aided the on the field action which was flawless with all the various disciplines well received by the enthusiastic local people of Halle an der Saale.

From the Fencing at the Federal Fencing Center to the Swimming and Riding at the nearby National Stud to the ever thrilling Combined Event, where the running track was measured and flagged by Halle’s very own Double Olympic Marathon Champion Waldemar Cirpinsk.

Out of the nine individual categories, there were some more prominent than others for qualities such as international competitiveness and number of attendants.

The Womens’ F30+ Pentathlon was won by Julie Lafaye from Monaco, followed by the UK’s Denise Silk (GBR) and home grown Gesche Reimers (GER).

The Mens’ M40+ Pentathlon was won by Vitalii Vybornov (UKR) from the Ukraine, followed by Germany’s Matthias Bergner (GER) and Vyboronov’s fellow countryman Viacheslav Bielov (UKR).

Andrey Perevaryukha (RUS) of Russia finished first in the Mens’ M50+ Pentathlon with an amazing 1400 points, followed by Peter Engerisser (GER) and Mikola Kulyc (UKR) from Ukraine.

And the Mens’ M50+ Tetrathlon saw Russia’s Valeriy Filatov (RUS) take first place, followed by Malte Grosse and Gregor Olejarz (both Germany).

The Pentathlon M60+ competition was won by Dr. Georg-Maria Meyer, Germany,  with a highscore of 1403 points, in front of 77 years old Erwin Stalder from Switzerland and Reinhold Fischer (GER).

Poland’s Paulina Dietz (POL) won both disciplines of Running and Fencing and finished first in Womans’ F30+ Tetrathlon far ahead of Ida Kameniscakova (SVK) and Katharina Bergner (GER).

Final highlight of the Championships were the much anticipated were relays.

Previous results from Fencing and Swimming were added with the Riding and Laser-Combined which took place on the Sunday.

In what was a close competition, the Pentathlon MIX30+ Relay was won by GER 2 (Gesche Reimers/Matthias Dahlem), followed by GER I (Nicole Brunk/Peter Engerisser) and GBR (Denise Silk/Lajos Fazekas).

The Pentathlon Mens’ Relay M30+ was won by Russia 1 (Perevaryukha/Turkevic), followed by Ukraine 1 (Bielov/Kulyc) and Ukraine 2 (Mazur/Vybornov).

The Tetrathlon MIX30+ Relay was won by the Polish team Paulina Dietz/Gregor Olejarz (POL) followed by two German teams: Kertin Schley/Malte Grosse and Elisabeth Michael/Olaf Ziebell.

Complete results can be found here and here.

This link leads to the German TV report, featuring João Carlos Bueno from Panama and Erwin Stalder from Switzerland: https://youtu.be/zE3Pkn2lSZs