UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Championships: Women’s Qualification

Individual competition at the UIPM 2023 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships got underway today with 78 competitors taking part in Women’s Qualification. 

It was current World No.1 Alice Sotero of Italy who laid down the earliest marker as she finished top of the pile in Group A, a blistering swim of 2:09.40 the highlight of her day. Germany’s Rebecca Langrehr wasn’t too far behind and Jessica Varley of Great Britain enjoyed her run on home soil to finish third. With the top 12 from each of the three groups progressing to Friday’s Semi-finals, world No.6 Ieva Serapinaite of Lithuania had to work to the finish line to secure the final slot from Linzhi Xie of China. 

Group B featured another host of huge names including Hungary dynamo Michelle Gulyas who claimed silver at last year’s UIPM Pentathlon World Championships. However there was somewhat of a surprise when World No.50 Sunwoo Kim of Korea topped the group, bringing some of the form she has shown in Mixed Relay events this year, including gold at the UIPM 2023 World Cup Final in Ankara (TUR) in June. Gulyas (HUN) finished second in the group with Ilke Ozyuksel of Türkiye also among the leaders thanks to the day’s fastest Laser Run time of 11:02.80. Home favourites Olivia Green and Kerenza Bryson gave Great Britain fans plenty to cheer as they also progressed safely. 

In the day’s final action, Mariana Arceo of Mexico came out on top of a terrific Group C contest racking up the day’s highest score with 1150 points, with defending world champion Elena Micheli of Italy second with a total of 1133 points. French duo Marie Oteiza and Elodie Clouvel were also among the top performers but there was a shock when world No.15 Blanka Guzi of Hungary missed out on the Semi-finals in spite of a stunning Laser Run time of 11:06.90

Competition in Bath (GBR) continues Thursday with Men’s Qualification and the Women’s Fencing Ranking Round ahead of Friday’s Semi-finals.

Watch and follow

The UIPM 2023 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships can be watched live on UIPM TV, where annual subscriptions cost €14.99. All results are available on the UIPM website and via the UIPM Central app.

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The UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Championships runs from August 22-28, based on the following schedule (UIPM TV live coverage times in Central European Summer Time).

• Thursday, August 24 | Men’s Qualification | Women’s Fencing Ranking Round
• Friday, August 25 | Women’s Semi-final A (11.30am); Semi-final B (4pm) | Men’s Fencing Ranking Round
• Saturday, August 26 | Men’s Semi-final A (11.30am); Semi-final B (4pm)
• Sunday, August 27 | Women’s Final (11.15am) | Men’s Final (4.15pm)
• Monday, August 28 | Mixed Relay (2.15pm)

The UIPM 2023 Laser Run World Championships took place from August 19-21. Click here to read reports.