UIPM 2021 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships: Belarus complete set with Women’s Relay gold

• New title for reigning Modern Pentathlon world champion Silkina and partner Prasiantsova
• Silver for Gubaydullina and Batashova (RMPF) on day one in Cairo (EGY)
• Hungary complete podium as Simon and Erdos come from behind

They have picked up where they left off.

On the opening day of the first UIPM Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships in 21 months, all-conquering Belarus claimed gold in the Women’s Relay thanks to a dominant performance by Volha Silkina and Iryna Prasiantsova.

Silkina (BLR) is the reigning individual champion and she also won gold in the team event in 2019 in Budapest (HUN) along with Prasiantsova (BLR) and Antasasiya Prokopenko (BLR). Today’s success means the country holds all three senior women’s world titles – at least until Saturday when the women’s individual and team medals will be back on the table.

The annual flagship competition of Modern Pentathlon and Laser Run has been on hold for almost two years, after failed attempts to stage the event in Xiamen (CHN), Cancun (MEX) and Minsk (BLR). A strong demonstration of class by some of the world’s leading female pentathletes from 11 nations provided a dynamic start to seven days of action in Cairo (EGY).

Finishing 12sec behind the champions, Gulnaz Gubaydullina and Uliana Batashova (RMPF) claimed silver while two starlets from Hungary (Sarolta Simon and Rita Erdos) advanced two places in the Laser Run to win bronze.

Having won gold alongside Mayan Oliver (MEX) in 2019, Mariana Arceo of Mexico had her eye on retaining the title but she and team-mate Tamara Vega could only manage 4th, one place ahead of Korea (Sehee Kim and Sunwoo Kim).

 

Swimming

Gubaydullina and Batashova (RMPF) set the pace in the pool with a fastest time of 2:03.77, ahead of Ukraine (Iryna Boicheniuk & Anastasiia Chyzhova) and Belarus (Prasiantsova/Silkina).

Fencing

The Fencing Ranking Round was dominated by two nations, with Korea (Kim/Kim) emerging on top with 29V/11D and another two points added in the Bonus Round giving them a clear overall lead.

Belarus (Prasiantsova/Silkina) also scored highly with 27V/13D, four more victories than next-best Gubaydullina and Batashova (RMPF).

Riding

Drama visited the Riding arena as three of the first four pairs suffered elimination, including host nation Egypt (Mariam Amer and Salma Abdelmaksoud).

Clean rounds and perfect scores of 300 enabled Belarus (Prasiantsova/Silkina) and Hungary (Simon/Erdos) to advance their credentials, especially as Korea (Kim/Kim) were toppled from the peak of the leaderboard by the loss of 40 penalty points.

Laser Run

The overall picture had changed significantly, with Belarus (Prasiantsova/Silkina) now starting Laser Run with a 19sec advantage over Gubaydullina and Batashova (RMPF), who in turn had a 10sec lead over Korea (Kim/Kim).

The Laser Run proceeded with unusual serenity, with very little suspense once Hungary (Erdos/Simon) had confidently overcome a 16sec deficit to move past Ukraine (Boicheniuk/Chyzhova) and Korea (Kim/Kim) into the bronze medal position.

Athletes of the elite calibre of Silkina and Prasiantsova (BLR) and Gubaydullina and Batashova (RMPF) had no issues defending their places, with the latter duo achieving the best Laser Run time of 12:18.00.

Medallists’ reaction

Gold medallist Prasiantsova (BLR) said: “It’s amazing. Two years without a World Championships and now on the first day we are world champions, so it’s great for Belarus and it’s a good start.

“We are sure that we can achieve the same result [in the individual / team event] and get another gold medal.”

Silver medallist Gubaydullina (RMPF) added: “Of course we’re very tired because today the weather was very hot. In Moscow we don’t have that temperature for training, and when we came here it was so hot and so hard.

“We’re very happy about the medal, and now we have an individual semi-final and final and we need to prepare for that. Of course we want to show that we can get the best results.”

Bronze medallist Simon (HUN) said: “We’re very happy because it was our goal to reach the top three but we didn’t really think about medals at the start of the race so we’re very happy.

“It’s very hot compared to Hungary, but we are trained to manage in different conditions and we figured it out.”

President’s reaction

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “We had 11 nations for the Women’s Relay, quite a good number, for the opening day of the UIPM 2021 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships.

“Many of the athletes were younger athletes gaining experience in competing at a World Championships, and it was an exciting finish even though Belarus was a clear winner.

“Hungary really caught up from behind to finish on the podium in 3rd place, and I have to say the whole competition finished in time and it was a good test for the other events to come, starting with the Men’s Relay tomorrow.

“I’m sure we will have another good competition with athletes warming up for the individual competitions in the coming days. Thanks again for all those involved in the preparation and congratulations to all the winners.”

 

Watch and follow

The final three days of the UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Championships will be televised live or ‘as live’ around the world – detailed information about TV broadcasters will be available in due course at the UIPM website.

As of March 15, 2021, the majority of Modern Pentathlon content on UIPM TV (UIPMTV.org) became available only to subscribers. Live coverage of the Laser Run in each competition – together with highlights from earlier in the day – remains free to view.

Annual subscriptions are priced at €29.99 with a special 50% discount (code: UIPM50%OFF) available throughout 2021, reducing the price to €14.95.

• Sign up here for your UIPM TV Yearly Pass or register for free content

Viewers who do not wish to subscribe can register their details on the site to access the free coverage, which will not be available anywhere else online. More information.

Follow World Pentathlon on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout the competition for additional content, and visit the UIPM website or download the “UIPM Central” app to keep track of results.

 

Competition schedule

UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Championships

(* live stream on UIPM TV)

June 9: Men’s Relay

June 10: Women’s Qualification

June 11: Men’s Qualification | Women’s Final Fencing Ranking Round

June 12: Men’s Final Fencing Ranking Round | Women’s Final*

June 13: Men’s Final*

June 14: Mixed Relay*

 

UIPM 2021 Laser Run World Championships

June 12: Women’s Individual

June 13: Men’s Individual

June 14: Mixed Relays

 

Rank	Team	Nation	MP Points
1	SILKINA Volha PRASIANTSOVA Iryna	BLR	1395
2	GUBAYDULLINA Gulnaz BATASHOVA Uliana	RMPF	1383
3	SIMON Sarolta ERDOS Rita	HUN	1343
4	ARCEO Mariana VEGA Tamara	MEX	1310
5	KIM Sunwoo KIM Sehee	KOR	1300
6	CHYZHOVA Anastasiia BOICHENIUK Iryna	UKR	1289
7	PRAMPOLINI Irene TOGNETTI Aurora	ITA	1280
8	NOVOTNA Veronika ROUBICKOVA Anna	CZE	1233
9	WALSER Julie SCHNEIDER Annika	GER	986
10	SCHULTZ Samantha GREEN Claire	USA	972
11	AMER Mariam ABOUBAKR Sondos	EGY	949