World Obstacle / UIPM 2024 OCR World Championships heading to Costa Rica

MONACO: December 15, 2023 – The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) and Federation Internationale de Sports d’Obstacles (FISO) will co-host the 2024 OCR World Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The four-day competition (August 22-25) will be jointly hosted by the two organisations for the second time, after the inaugural 2023 championships in Genk (BEL).

The 100m and other short-course races, together with the opening and closing ceremonies and a concert, will be held at Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica and La Sabana Park in the capital city of San Jose. Coming just days after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where Riding will feature in Modern Pentathlon for the last time, numerous participating athletes will have their eyes set on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games where Obstacle will make its debut.

The longer endurance races (15km and 5km) will be held at the beautiful Doka Coffee Estate and adjacent wilderness at 2,000m elevation with views of the central volcanic mountain region.

The event is being hosted by OCR Costa Rica and members of the Costa Rica Modern Pentathlon community, in partnership with Visit Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Tourism Board, with event services and obstacles from Groupo Publicatario, Spartan Race and OnePlan.

The announcement follows the first meeting of the Ad-hoc Working Group appointed to manage the integration of FISO into UIPM, during which five principles were agreed. The integration process will continue in 2024 with relevant motions likely to feature on the agenda for UIPM 2024 Congress in Riyadh (KSA).

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “We have a very strong spirit of cooperation and understanding with our colleagues from FISO, focusing together on creating a sporting movement that is more globally accessible and more commercially attractive, bringing greater future value to the Olympic Games starting in Los Angeles in 2028.

“The 2024 OCR World Championships will be another important step in our shared journey towards the formal integration of two international sport communities. This is an exciting time for athletes on all sides, with an increasing number of crossover opportunities.”

World Obstacle President Ian Adamson said: “We are excited to be collaborating with our colleagues in Costa Rica. Their expertise in event production in the region is unparalleled and delivering the championships with top international producers in sport, television, and event production will provide the most exciting races on the OCR calendar catering to national teams from Pentathlon and Obstacle federations from 120 countries.”

OCR Costa Rica President Rodolfo Villalobos said: “Hosting the OCR World Championships is a logical progression for our event companies. We have been producing events for international and Olympic sports for many years and look forward to delivering the highest-quality experience for the athletes, entourages, spectators and viewing audience.”

Qualification and national team size is specified by each national member federation for competitive categories and registration is now open for all events.