A Passion For Paris: Episodes 3-4 now available on UIPM YouTube

• “I lost it, I lost it. I went far away” – Clouvel (FRA)
• “I’ll fight to get this Olympic medal that I want more than anything” – Prades (FRA)
• “I’m in the place that I belong to, and where I want to stay.” – Micheli (ITA)
• “It’s like in every competition I need to take the gold” – Shaban (EGY)
• “It could be the pressure, the nerves” – Hernandez (GUA)

UIPM has released two more episodes of its TV special entitled A Passion For Paris, charting the dramatic ups and downs experienced by elite pentathletes as they prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Merging profile interviews with competition coverage, the latest episodes follow some of the world’s leading athletes through the extreme highs and lows of their experience in UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cups Budapest and Sofia.

One of the stars of the double-header is Rio 2016 silver medallist Elodie Clouvel of France, whose psychological struggle with shooting has been a dominant narrative of the 2024 season.

Preparing for a potentially career-defining home Games, we see Clouvel (FRA) full of relief after an improved performance at the range in Budapest (HUN), but then she experiences a new level of woe in Sofia (BUL) as the chance of a gold medal slips dramatically from her grasp, leading to a highly emotional and moving interview.

Episodes 3 and 4 also introduce three-time Pentathlon World Cup Final winner Valentin Prades (FRA) and first-time Olympian Sophia Hernandez of Guatemala, while catching up with Elena Micheli of Italy, Mohanad Shaban of Egypt, Ilke Ozyuksel of Türkiye and Emiliano Hernandez of Mexico.

Highlights of the third and fourth parts of the six-part series include:

• Prades (FRA) discussing the “dream” of preparing for a home Games, before failing to qualify for the Men’s Final in Budapest (HUN) and reflecting: “This sport is incredibly hard. I’ll fight to get this Olympic medal that I want more than anything.”
• Two-time world champion Micheli (ITA) coming back after injury to secure bronze in Budapest (HUN) before declaring: “I can feel right now that I’m in the place that I belong to, and where I want to stay.”
• Shaban (EGY) recovering from his bad experience in Ankara (TUR) to secure a bronze medal in Budapest (HUN), before admitting his obsession with a different colour of medal: “I see the gold and it’s like in every competition I need to take the gold.”
• Clouvel (FRA) finally succumbing to the emotional pressure of preparing for Paris 2024, after her shooting sank to a new low in Sofia (BUL): “I was happy to compete and I don't know what happened, I lost it, I lost it. I went far away.”
• Sophia Hernandez (GUA) confronting the unique challenge of mental preparation for a debut Olympics, after her elimination in the qualification round in Sofia (BUL): “It could be the pressure, the nerves. It could be that I wasn't able to concentrate during competition time. But we have to analyse it all.”  
• Shaban (EGY) going one better in Sofia (BUL) to capture silver …. but he’s still not happy. “Like we say, I won silver but I lost the gold. Not happy with my performance in shooting.”

A Passion For Paris: Episodes 3-4 have been released to TV networks worldwide and are available to watch free on UIPM’s YouTube channel.

Episodes 5 and 6, filmed during the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Final in Ankara (TUR) and the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Championships in Zhengzhou (CHN), will be available soon.