UIPM announces revival of Masters World Championships and launches Obstacle Laser Run (OLR) World Tour

The Executive Board (EB) of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) met on March 7 and agreed on some key decisions, including:

• The revival of the UIPM Masters World Championships, the 2024 edition of which has been awarded to Gyomro in Hungary
• The launch of the Obstacle Laser Run (OLR) World Tour, with the aim of globalising a new format that will be used for University and Military World Championships run by FISU and CISM respectively

UIPM 2024 Masters World Championships

The Hungarian city of Gyomro, 35km from the capital Budapest, will stage the return of the UIPM Masters World Championships from September 13-15, 2024.

Gyomro (HUN) hosted the European Masters Championships in 2019, not long before the COVID-19 pandemic brought Modern Pentathlon’s international Masters movement to a halt.

After an abortive attempt by Finland to host the global gathering of pentathletes aged 30+ in 2022, the Hungarian Modern Pentathlon Association (HMPA) entered a bid that was accepted by the UIPM EB – and they will now host the last Masters World Championships to feature Riding alongside Fencing, Swimming and Laser Run.

The news comes after France held the first Masters competition to include the new Obstacle discipline in Bompas (FRA), and after Chisinau (MDA) held a successful Open European Masters Championships that signalled the revival of the movement in November 2023.

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “After a fallow period in the history of the UIPM Masters World Championships, we are more than happy that the Hungarian Modern Pentathlon Association offered to organise the competition in September 2024 so that our Masters have not only their local and open regional events but also a global competition to prepare for.

“My congratulations go to the global Masters movement and to the Hungarian federation, and I wish everybody good luck and a smooth preparation for the World Championships in September, and also the elections.”

In accordance with the UIPM Election Rules, elections for the new UIPM Masters Committee will take place during the UIPM 2024 Masters World Championships.

Obstacle Laser Run World Tour

The addition of Obstacle discipline to the UIPM Statutes and Competition Rules in November 2022 enabled the creation of new multi-sport formats to support the globalisation of UIPM Sports.

Obstacle Laser Run (OLR) was soon added to the UIPM Sports Pyramid as a format that is highly flexible for organisers, as well as athletes and coaches and the National Federations responsible for development at grassroots level.

Not only is OLR seen as a potentially very popular spectator sport, but its plug-and-play flexibility enables it to take the place of traditional Modern Pentathlon in the University and Military movements, where it will become the favoured format for future FISU World University Championships Modern Pentathlon – starting in Kaunas (LTU) in 2024 – and CISM Modern Pentathlon Military World Championships.

Now the addition of an Obstacle Laser Run World Tour follows UIPM’s successful development of the Global Laser Run City Tour and Biathle-Triathle National Tour, expanding mass-participation competition opportunities for countries in every corner of the world.

The OLR World Tour will not only offer new entry points to UIPM Sports and pathways to the Olympic sport of Modern Pentathlon, it will become a potential solution for continental and regional events where elite Pentathlon is less established, such as the Southeast Asian Games – the next iteration of which is in 2025.

The OLRWT bidding process will open for NFs that are not yet able to host full Pentathlon events due to their stage of development.  As a first step, the OLRWT will target countries that already have or recently acquired Obstacle competition equipment, giving athletes and organisers a chance to create a competitive opportunity in their own country.

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “The FISU 2024 World University Championships Modern Pentathlon will be very exciting as it will combine Laser Run with Obstacle for the first time, and this new format gives a lot of accessibility to student athletes worldwide.

“I wish all athletes who are in their academic career a fantastic time during this historic competition in Kaunas, and on behalf of the Executive Board I look forward to seeing the development of the new Obstacle Laser Run World Tour, giving people of all ages new opportunities to compete in our movement in every corner of the world.”