UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Ankara: Bryson (GBR) powers into Women’s Final

After a dramatic day of Semi-final action, Kerenza Bryson of Great Britain took a commanding lead into the Women’s Final at UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Ankara.

Bryson (GBR), the 2023 world bronze medallist, will start on Super Saturday with a 20-point advantage after a superb return of 27 victories and eight defeats in the Fencing Ranking Round.

Her nearest rival on the start line will be Alessandra Frezza of Italy, who scored 23V/12D, followed by Uliana Batashova (AIN), who returned to the sport with a competitive 22V/13D.

All three of the leading fencers qualified comfortably from their Semi-finals, the first of which saw the downfall of three of the sport’s biggest names.

Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Elodie Clouvel of France had started the Semi-final A Laser Run in the lead position, but she lost a huge amount of time due to an apparent technical issue with her laser pistol, and finished a distant 17th with only the top nine qualifying for the Final.

Surprisingly, local favourite Ilke Ozyuksel of Türkiye also crashed out with an uncharacteristically poor Laser Run, 15th overall, while two-time Olympic medallist Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania fell three places short of the top nine.

Taking their place at the front of the field were the day’s top overall performers with 1,078 points – Frezza (ITA), Batashova (AIN) and Pentathlon World Cup Cairo silver medallist Sunwoo Kim of Korea.

In Semi-final B, all nine qualifiers crossed the line together with 1,068 and 1,069 points after an excellent run by two-time world champion Anastasiya Prokopenko (AIN) settled the debate. At the end of a tense race, the veteran left Rebecca Langrehr of Germany and Mariana Arceo of Mexico in her wake with a decisive final shoot.

Pentathlon World Cup Ankara continues tomorrow (April 19) with the Men's Semi-finals, followed by the Finals on April 20 and the Mixed Relay on April 21.

Live stream of the Semi-finals and Finals is available on UIPM TV and all competition results are available at the UIPM website.

The 18 athletes who qualified for the Women's Final are: