UIPM 2024 Pentathlon Junior World Championships: Egypt and Germany secure hard-fought Relay golds

Egypt and Germany won gold medals on a competitive and hot opening day of the UIPM 2024 Pentathlon Junior World Championships in Alexandria (EGY) that included a big turnout of 66 athletes.

It was business as usual for Egypt’s Women’s Relay team of 13-year-old Farida Khalil and 19-year-old Zeina Amer, as they won another gold on the international circuit. Khalil (EGY) topped the same podium and Amer (EGY) won the Mixed Relay in last year’s Pentathlon Junior World Championships in Druskininai (LIT).

Louison Cazaly and Mathilde Derval of France almost threatened to spoil the party as they gave Egypt (Amer/Khalil) a run for their money, winning silver 9sec behind the champions while the new China team of Xiyu Zhu and Xiyao Wu won bronze.

Egypt started the day on the back foot in Fencing, finishing 2nd to Korea (Sumin Shin & Inroi Choi) as they scored 32V/13D and added four bonus points. But like last year, Egypt (Khalil/Amer) dominated the Obstacle discipline, storming into the overall lead with an excellent 1min 19.17sec.

China (Zhu/Wu), Korea (Shin/Choi), France (Cazaly/Derval) and Poland (Malgorzata Karbownik & Maja Biernacka) all swam faster than Egypt (Khalil/Amer), while France (Cazaly/Derval) outperformed them in the Laser Run to strongly secure silver.

The French time of 13:53.85 was nearly 20sec quicker than that of the overall champions, but not quite fast enough with a brilliant Obstacle performance proving finally decisive for Egypt (Khalil/Amer) to kickstart the competition with gold in front of their home crowd.

Moriz Klinkert and Tim Leh of Germany won their first Junior World Championships gold medal in a highly competitive Men’s Relay that attracted 20 nations.

Cedric Chatellier and Diego Lavillat of France couldn’t repeat their nation’s gold medal success from the same competition last year, settling for silver as Dmytro Khudenko and Roman Popov sealed bronze for Ukraine.

Neither Chatellier or Lavillat had participated at this level previously, but they began the day as leaders winning the Fencing by two bonus points after they and China (Zhenfeng Liu & Ziyou Zhang) each scored 26V/20D in the Ranking Round. But they struggled in Obstacle, which proved to be a turning point for Germany (Klinkert/Leh) as they completed the course in less than a minute, 57.76sec.

Germany (Klinkert/Leh) then lost ground again, finishing 10th in Swimming with an 11sec deficit to dominant Italy duo Matteo Bovenzi and Denis Agavriloaei (1:43.76). It didn’t matter however as Leh and Klinkert’s 3rd-fastest time in the Laser Run of 12:20.07 was enough to win their first Junior World Championship gold after a topsy-turvy day in Egypt.

Champions’ reaction

Women’s Relay gold medallist Amer (EGY) said: “It's great winning gold on our home soil and it's great that we had all the people cheering for us and it was a great, great support and push to win for a medal."

"Of course, it's really hard to calm and relieve from all the pressure and focus on the performance itself. It's something really difficult but we try to do our best and just focus. We had the lead and wanted to maintain it and just be confident that we're just pushing forward, we're a strong team and we knew we could get a medal."

"Obstacle gave us a head start for the rest, the Swimming and the Laser Run and it was good to have that."

"Farida is strong, she's the best at Obstacle. We try to focus a lot on it since we started last year, trying to improve. We've just been our best today to make the team proud."

"We're doing the Individuals tomorrow and will focus on this. Hopefully we'll make it to the Finals and make the best result."

Team-mate Khalil (EGY) added: “It was very hot today. It was a tough competition. The Obstacle gave us confidence."

Men’s Relay gold medallist Leh (GER) said: “We’re quite happy the way it worked out. It was a hard competition in long, hot weather and a hard running course but, we’re super happy that it’s now over and we’re first.

“We had some delay as well but every sport is difficult. I think we managed everything good and we won in the end.”

“We want to qualify for the final with a good position and then give everything we have for the Final.”

Partner Klinkert (GER) added: “As my teammate said, we’re super happy because the last year in Men’s Relay was not really good because we never got a medal. I am looking forward to the Final and fighting for each position.”

Watch and follow

The UIPM 2024 Pentathlon Junior World Championships is available to subscribers on UIPM.TV where annual packages cost €14.99.

Visit the UIPM website or download UIPM Central from your app store to keep track of live results. Follow World Pentathlon on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube for additional content.

The UIPM 2024 Pentathlon Junior World Championships runs from June 25-30, based on the following schedule (UIPM TV live coverage times in Central European Summer Time).

• Tuesday, June 25 | Women’s Relay & Men’s Relay
• Wednesday, June 26 | Women’s Qualification
• Thursday, June 27 | Men’s Qualification
• Friday, June 28 | Women’s & Men’s Fencing Ranking Round
• Saturday, June 29 | Women’s Final (1pm) | Men’s Final (5pm)
• Sunday, June 30 | Mixed Relay (5pm)