UIPM 2023 U19 World Championships: France on top of the world after Mixed Relay gold

• Third title of the week for Clergeau (FRA) in tandem with Flavin (FRA)
• Silver for Egypt and bronze for Korea as pioneering athletes celebrate success
• President Schormann salutes ‘historical moment for the Olympic movement’

France finished top of the medal table on the final day of the UIPM 2023 U19 World Championships after winning their gold medal in the Mixed Relay.

Men’s Individual and Team gold medallist Etienne Clergeau (FRA) added a third world title alongside team-mate Coline Flavin (FRA), who had finished 5th in the Women’s Individual Final 24 hours earlier.

With their golden treble France topped the competition medal table ahead of Egypt, who had already won two golds and added a second silver today thanks to Women’s Individual champion Farida Khalil and Mohamed Sherif in the Mixed Relay. Korea finished third in the medal table with one gold and one silver topped up by a bronze claimed today by Sumin Shin and Hwanhee Lee.

Teenage athletes from 34 nations competed in Istanbul (TUR) as U19 pioneers in the new Modern Pentathlon sequence of Fencing/Obstacle/Swimming/Laser Run that will be adopted at all levels of the sport after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Medallists’ reaction

Gold medallist Clergeau (FRA) said: “Today was incredible, I don’t have the words. It was a very great day, all disciplines were very good and my team-mate was very good too. We are the team of the day.

“Obstacle is a very nice discipline, there is a lot of complexity but we can train for it and be better next time and all the time.

“My dream is to be Olympic champion one day, and it’s a good start, I think, in this competition. I hope I will be better every day to add to the dream. I want to say thank you to everybody who helped me in my project.”

Partner Flavin (FRA) added: “It was a good day, all was fine. I think Fencing was our best because we had a very, very good performance. I think Obstacle is a good discipline. It’s so hard and difficult, and I like this.

“Thank you to everyone who helped me and thank you to Etienne for the good day. Thank you coaches and the French team.”

Action replay

Fifteen nations lined up in the Mixed Relay and France (Flavin/Clergeau) took what looked like a decisive lead with a incredible Fencing performance. In the Ranking Round they scored 26 victories with only four defeats, putting distance between themselves and next-best Eva Marsh and Freddie Barlow of Great Britain (20V/10D), who they defeated in the final bout of the Bonus Round too.

Katarzyna Debska and Bartosz Szmytke of Poland performed best in Obstacle (1min 06.74sec) and second-best in Swimming (2:02.14) in a bid to put some pressure on the overall leaders, but France (Flavin/Clergeau) were 3rd in Obstacle with only Egypt (Khalil/Sherif, 1:11.45) and the Poles out-performing them. Great Britain (Marsh/Barlow) posted the best combined Swimming time of 2:01.81.

Into the Laser Run, there was still a massive gulf between the top duo and the chasing pack, with France (Flavin/Clergeau) starting with a 40sec advantage over Egypt (Khalil/Sherif) and Poland (Debska/Szmytke) 5sec further behind.

And there was no twist in the tale as France (Flavin/Clergeau) added a second to their lead in finishing 41sec clear of silver medallists Egypt (Khalil/Sherif), the champions even posting the best Laser Run time of the day (12:55.10). As the Polish challenge stuttered, Korea (Shin/Lee) took full advantage by racing into the bronze-medal position and holding on.

President’s reaction

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “We have to say that Istanbul as a city has a big love of sport and this was a great UIPM U19 World Championships with the inclusion of Obstacle in Modern Pentathlon.

“There were great performances in preparation, in qualification, and then in the Individual Finals yesterday there was an unbelievable atmosphere. You really could see how the athletes enjoyed this new combination of five disciplines.

“This is a historical moment for the young people, no longer competing in four disciplines as they did in the Youth Olympic Games in the past, but now with five disciplines. This is a strong message for the future, and I listened to the young people and could see how excited they were – they love what they are doing now.

“The change is coming in the right moment, we had the U17 World Championships in Alexandria already with great messages, and now you can see that the U19 athletes have much more experience already. We are creating a showcase for the Olympic Games in future.

“I congratulate the athletes on a great performance, and I thank the organisers for everything they did including the creation of a clear field of play, which is something we need in our sport. In the evening the competition took place under lights, and for me this created more glamour, and this is something we should do more in future.

“This World Championships is a historical moment for our National Federations, for our Union, and also for the Olympic movement in Türkiye and the global Olympic movement.”  

President’s activities

Earlier today, UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann met with the Turkish Minister of Youth and Sports, Osman Askin Bak, in his office in Istanbul (TUR).

They discussed the sports movement in Türkiye as an important factor for education and health.

President Dr Schormann briefed the Minister about Modern Pentathlon and all the various combinations of five disciplines including the new challenge presented by the integration of Obstacle. A close cooperation between the Ministry of Sport of Türkiye, the Turkish Modern Pentathlon Federation and UIPM was underlined during this meeting.

Watch and follow

The UIPM 2023 U19 World Championships has now concluded, and the next event on the calendar is the UIPM 2023 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships in Bath (GBR) from August 19-28.

Visit the UIPM website or download the newly-updated “UIPM Central” from your app store to keep track of news and results throughout the season.

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