UIPM 2019 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships: Hungary and France gather glory in men's Laser Run

• Bereczki (HUN) helps host nation complete senior double
• Gold rush for France as Perrier takes junior title
• Medals for Thailand and Denmark show power of development

Hungary completed the senior double but France gave the host nation a run for their money on day two of the UIPM 2019 Laser Run World Championships.

Richard Bereczki (HUN) became senior men’s world champion in front of his home crowd, emulating the success of Kamilla Reti (HUN) in the women’s final on day one.

Bereczki (HUN) was joined on the podium by bronze medallist team-mate Tamas Bence Frohlich (HUN), while Joan Gispert of Spain won silver.

But while Hungary topped the table again on day two with 12 medals including five golds, France also had a fine day with five gold medals of their own, including the junior world title.

That was won by Kylian Perrier (FRA), who held off a strong challenge from Eduardo Oliveira of Portugal to break the tape. Csaba Bohm (HUN) claimed bronze.

In the youth categories, Egypt were typically strong and their team finished the day with six medals including three gold. Across all age categories, Great Britain performed superbly with 11 medals including four golds, and there was one new world title each for Portugal, South Africa, Italy and Austria.

Thailand had another day of success with a silver medal, while there were also podium moments for Ukraine, Denmark, Germany and Belarus.

All results from the UIPM 2019 Laser Run World Championships are available here.

UIPM Executive Board Member for Development, Dr Viacheslav Malishev, said: “Today we witnessed another successful day at the UIPM Laser Run World Championships, and we saw a great deal of emotion from parents and other family members greeting their children.

“Looking at the countries that were represented on the podium, it was interesting to see how many young athletes are willing to jump from Laser Run to Modern Pentathlon – they are interested in our multi-sports like Biathle, Triathle and Tetrathlon.

“We are looking forward to tomorrow for the Mixed Relay but today was really, really emotional and very exciting.

“We saw success for traditional Pentathlon countries like France, Egypt and of course Hungary, but also we saw young athletes from Nepal, from Thailand, from South Africa. A lot of countries are winning medals, which is difficult to do in Pentathlon, and they can win medals in individual and team categories. It underlines that Laser Run is a very good tool for development.”

The UIPM Laser Run World Championships, which was initiated in 2015 in Perpignan (FRA), is being incorporated into the UIPM Pentathlon World Championships for the first time in 2019. The Mixed Relay categories will conclude the championships on September 8.

Laser Run will also be a showcase sport at the 1st World Urban Games in Budapest (HUN) from September 13-15.