UIPM Joint Committees Meeting: experts break new ground in Frankfurt (GER)

• Obstacle Laser Run to be introduced for Youth and University athletes from 2024
• Commitments made to delivery of successful Riding event at Paris 2024 Olympics
• Push for more gender equality across coach and judge certification courses

Five years after the first combined gathering of UIPM’s athlete, technical and coach representatives, the annual UIPM Joint Committees Meeting ended on February 26 with a range of important outcomes.

The UIPM Athletes Committee (chaired by Yasser Hefny OLY of Egypt), UIPM Coaches Committee (chaired by Christian Roudaut of France) and UIPM Technical Committee (chaired by Janusz Peciak OLY of Poland), convened for three days of expert talks in the heart of Europe from February 24-26.

Among the outcomes of the meeting were:

• A new Youth League will be launched from the 2024 season to introduce UIPM Obstacle Laser Run, which will also be the new University format proposed for the FISU 2024 Pentathlon World University Championships.
• Obstacle Laser Run is one of the many multi-sport combinations featured in the new UIPM Sports Pyramid, which was signed off during the Joint Committees Meeting.
• UIPM’s Obstacle implementation strategy for 2023 and 2024 was presented to the Committees in detail, with suggestions and input collected to be taken as improvement opportunities during the process.
• A full commitment was given to deliver a successful Riding competition in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with thorough processes of horse selection and accurate course design and athlete performances monitored in all qualification events (in parallel to the ongoing work of the UIPM Riding Review Panel), with Riding camps provided before the Games.

Members of the three committees together with UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann and other EB members

Initiatives to increase the participation of women in courses under UIPM’s Coaches Certification Programme (CCP) and Judges Certification Programme (JCP) in the next two seasons were presented and discussed.

The three Committees discussed their action plans for the upcoming season, which begins in less than two weeks with UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Cairo, along with the Paris 2024 Olympic qualification pathway and actions to support athletes in career transition via the UIPM Educational Platform.

Besides the heads of the three Committees, the UIPM Executive Board was also represented by President Dr Klaus Schormann, Treasurer John Helmick, Secretary General Shiny Fang and Member for Development Dr Viacheslav Malishev.

Dr Atanas Andreev (BUL) represented the UIPM Medical Committee in the joint sessions, while Bernhard Petruschinski (GER) was invited as a Modern Pentathlon technical expert.

President Dr Schormann said: “The Joint Committees Meeting in Frankfurt-am-Main has become a cornerstone of our annual calendar and this year from February 24-26 we had a riveting exchange of proposals and views.

“We are fortunate to have such expertise and passion in our athlete, technical and coach communities, and as our global community heads into the 2023 season, they can do so knowing they have been represented strongly in all of the discussions that took place and the action plans that were created.”

Click here to view the composition of all UIPM Committees and Commissions.