UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest: Magical Mexico roar to dominant Mixed Relay gold

• Oliver and Padilla (MEX) deliver second gold of the season for Mixed Relay powerhouse
• France (Cazaly/Loubet) come from behind to claim an impressive silver
• Host national celebrate bronze as Hungary (Guzi/Regos) sign off in style

Mayan Oliver and Manuel Padilla delivered a second Mixed Relay gold of the season for Mexico as the final day of UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest witnessed a dominant victory. 

The stellar win left the chasing pack fighting for silver and bronze and it was the France duo of Louison Cazaly and Brice Loubet who won that battle ahead of Hungary, with Blanka Guzi and Gergely Regos ensuring the final medal of a gripping week went to the host nation.  

With Mariana Arceo and Duilio Carrillo claiming gold in the season-opening competition in Cairo last month, Oliver and Padilla (MEX) matched their teammates’ consistency across all disciples with an emphatic triumph. It was particularly sweet for Padilla (MEX) after cruel luck struck during the closing stages of last year’s Mixed Relay in the Hungarian capital when his feet got tangled in an equipment bag after the final shoot and gold slipped away. 

Mexico’s win ensured that the week ended with three different continents savouring gold while a total of seven nations were among the medals. 

Medallists’ reaction

Gold medallist Padilla (MEX) said: “This was my revenge! Last year I was also fighting for the gold, I think with the Koreans and then the bag thing happened. So I’m very happy for today. It’s my first gold medal in relays so it’s a very good day.”

Teammate Oliver (MEX) added: “I am very happy for this result. Today was a good day. The thing with Manuel is he is so good and today was a great result.”

Silver medallist Cazaly (FRA) said: “It was a great competition and a really great day. I’m very glad to do the relay with Loubet because he is a really great friend for me, a big training partner. He has more experience than me and I was glad to achieve that with him today. 

Her teammate Loubet (FRA) added: “All the day was a team effort. She shoots well. I run well. All day we balanced well as a team. We’re very happy to be back on the podium, especially together like Louison said. It was a tough day but we are happy.”

Bronze medallist Guzi (HUN) said: “I think we are really happy about this result because I hadn’t imagined before today that we could reach a bronze medal so that was a nice surprise for me. The crowd was amazing, I heard them during the Running, Shooting and Riding. It’s always a pleasure to race in front of them.”

Her teammate Regos (HUN) added: “This was really, really good. I enjoy competing with Blanka, it’s a great opportunity for us. Especially for me as I had fallen down the national team this year so it was  great chance to compete in front of my home and in front of my family. 

 

Riding

After a Super Saturday that had witnessed some exemplary performances on horseback the challenge had been laid down for Sunday’s competitors to follow suit. The vast majority were able to meet that challenge with 14 of the 15 teams making it safely around. 

The pedigree was quickly rising to the top with Mexico (Oliver/Padilla) top scorers, dropping just a single point to add 299 to their tally. Looking to add yet more hardware to their clutch of medals from the season, Egypt (Salma Abdelmaksoud & Ahmed Elgendy) moved up in the rankings after scoring 297 points with Hungary (Guzi/Regos), Poland (Malgorzata Karbownik & Kamil Kasperczak) and France (Cazaly/Loubet) all scoring 293. 

The Ukraine team of Iryna Kubrak and Oleksandr Tovkai had entered the Riding in real contention after an impressive Fencing Ranking Round score but saw their medal hopes dashed when they were the only team to suffer elimination. 

Fencing

After a 2023 season in which they made the Mixed Relay podiums their own, Mexico (Oliver/Padilla) have been focusing on building on that this year and got their Budapest challenge off to the perfect start by dominating the Fencing Ranking Round as they led with 20 victories. 

Ukraine (Kubrak/Tovkai) were next best with 18 victories, two more than the team from the host nation (Guzi/Regos). 

In the Bonus Round it was Marlena Jawaid and Daniel Steinbock of Sweden who made a red-hot run, racking up an extra eight points on the piste. However Mexico (Oliver/Padilla) had the last laugh as they managed to stretch their now daunting lead at the head of proceedings. 

Swimming

If there was to be one discipline where the other contenders could target the leading duo it was in the pool where Mexican prowess isn’t as pronounced. 

It was Poland (Karbownik/Kasperczak) who made up the most ground with a rapid time of 1:57.11 fully eight seconds faster than Mexico (Oliver/Padilla). Hungary (Guzi/Regos) responded to the raucous Sunday atmosphere in their capital city to cement their place in second with a time of 1:57.73.

The truly global appeal of Mixed Relay was reflected in Sunday’s field and it was one of the more far-flung teams who shone brightest in the pool with Australia (Genevieve Janse van Rensburg & Rhys Lanskey), fastest in a blistering 1:56.20. 

Laser Run

While the lead of Mexico (Oliver/Padilla) wasn’t as pronounced as before the Swimming, the experienced duo did enter the decisive Laser Run with a formidable 21-second lead on the field. However just 10 seconds separated the next four contenders: Hungary (Guzi/Regos), Poland (Karbownik/Kasperczak), France (Cazaly/Loubet) and Italy (Maria Lea Lopez & Giorgio Micheli). Sweden (Steinbock/Jawaid) and the classy duo from Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Elgendy) were just about within striking distance. 

With the sun setting on a gorgeous Budapest weekend, Oliver (MEX) set off in determined fashion but Guzi (HUN) ran hard and was hot on the leaders' tail making up six seconds before the first visit to the range while the eagle eye of Cazaly (FRA) was on show as she completed two rapid shoots, her second taking just over six seconds.

At the changeover Mexico (Oliver/Padilla) had actually extended their lead to 25 seconds with Padilla (MEX), a renowned runner, setting off towards glory and underlining that with an 8.64-second first shoot. Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Elgendy) had indeed sliced through the field to threaten what was now a captivating silver medal battle between Hungary (Guzi/Regos) and France (Cazaly/Loubet). 

As Padilla (MEX) completed another brilliant final shoot he wheeled away with one arm in the air knowing that glory had been assured. Behind him it was Loubet (FRA) who found an extra gear to stretch away from Regos (HUN) and claim silver. Egypt (Abdelmaksoud/Elgendy) came in a gritty fourth with Poland (Karbownik/Kasperczak) fifth and Italy (Lopez/Micheli) sixth.

Among some very impressive Laser Run performances further down the field, Japan (Misaki Uchida & Ryo Matsumoto) stood out, clocking the fifth-fastest time of the day in 12:43.80 with the United States (Phaelen French & Tristen Bell) sixth-fastest. 

President’s reaction 

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “I congratulate Mexico on their impressive success in today’s Mixed Relay, bringing a close to another wonderful Modern Pentathlon competition in the capital city of Hungary.

“We have a fantastic facility here in Budapest and the organisers selected horses at a very high level, which is needed for the Riding presentation at the Olympic Games in Versailles. I thank the organising committee for everything they have done under the leadership of a new President, former world champion Gabor Balogh.

“We had so many former Hungarian champions, some of them 70, 80 and 90 years old, coming here to cheer athletes. I’m so happy that this traditional stronghold in our sport has again presented a fantastic World Cup.

“Everything was arranged perfectly for athletes and coaches, spectators and media and sponsors, and now we all look forward to the next World Cup in Sofia and the World Cup Final in Ankara.”

 

Watch and follow

UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest has now concluded and the next competition on the calendar is UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Sofia from May 8-13.

Live stream of the Semi-finals and Finals will be available on UIPM TV, and all competition results are available at the UIPM website and via the UIPM Central app.

Follow World Pentathlon on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube throughout the season for additional content.

Rank	Team	Nation	Points
1	OLIVER Mayan PADILLA Manuel	MEX	1408
2	CAZALY Louison LOUBET Brice	FRA	1374
3	GUZI Blanka REGOS Gergely	HUN	1372
4	ABDELMAKSOUD Salma ELGENDY Ahmed	EGY	1365
5	KARBOWNIK Malgorzata KASPERCZAK Kamil	POL	1333
6	LOPEZ Maria Lea MICHELI Giorgio	ITA	1313
7	JAWAID Marlena STEINBOCK Daniel	SWE	1309
8	KRENKOVA Karolina TUMA Matous	CZE	1306
9	ZHANG Mingyu ZHANG Linbin	CHN	1304
10	UCHIDA Misaki MATSUMOTO Ryo	JPN	1278
11	FRENCH Phaelen BELL Tristen	USA	1264
12	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Genevieve LANSKEY Rhys	AUS	1231
13	NIKA Pinelopi SECHIDIS Filippos	GRE	1228
14	FITZSIMMONS Kelly SCHULZ Quinn	CAN	1212
15	KUBRAK Iryna TOVKAI Oleksandr	UKR	1070