UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Sofia: Clouvel (FRA) out in front after dramatic Women’s Semi-finals

• Rio 2016 medalist and Jawaid (SWE) lead way with strong Fencing rounds
• Olympic champion French (GBR) joins three-way Great Britain fight in Final 
• In-form Seong (KOR) and red-hot Heredia (ESP) among 18 qualifiers for Super Sunday

France’s Elodie Clouvel roared back to form to put a medal firmly in her sights after an engrossing pair of Women’s Semi-finals at UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Cup Sofia on Friday.

Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist Clouvel (FRA) is targeting a first podium of the 2024 Olympic season and jumped to the head of the field with a dominant performance in the Fencing Ranking Round racking up 26 Wins. Marlena Jawaid of Sweden was the only competitor to get close to that tally picking up 25 Wins. 

Behind the leading duo, Super Sunday will also see a three-pronged battle between Great Britain’s Paris 2024 hopefuls with reigning Olympic champion Kate French dramatically snatching a place alongside join compatriots Jessica Varley and Emma Whitaker in the Final. The race to potentially join World No. 3 Kerenza Bryson (GBR) at the Olympics remains an intriguing one. 

Lithuania will also boast three competitors among the 18 finalists after Elzbieta Adomaityte (LTU) joined teammates Gintare Venckauskaite (LTU) and Ieva Serapinaite (LTU) in making it safely through the penultimate stage. 

On a chilly Friday in the Bulgarian capital, Jawaid (SWE) built on her brilliant Fencing performance to win Semi-final A with Varley (GBR) not too far behind her. In-form Korean Seungmin Seong (KOR) also made it safely through as she chases a third-straight podium after taking World Cup silvers in both Ankara and Budapest last month although her Fencing struggles may hamper that bid. 

Blanka Guzi of Hungary and Salma Abdelmaksoud of Egypt were also among the pack of qualifiers with the returning French (GBR) grabbing the ninth of final spot.

The afternoon’s second Semi-final was largely dominated by Clouvel (FRA) although Annika Zillekens of Germany showed off some stellar shooting to cross the line first and lead the qualifiers. Spain’s Laura Heredia produced the day’s fastest Laser Run time of 11:47.30 to secure her spot. 

Much of the drama was further back with four competitors fighting for the final three places: Alice Rinaudo of Italy, U19 World Champion Malak Ismail (EGY) and the British duo of Whitaker and Olivia Green (GBR). It all came down to the final shoot where Green (GBR) was the one to be squeezed out with World No.9 Rebecca Langrehr (GER) also missing a final place.

Pentathlon World Cup Sofia continues tomorrow (May 11) with the Men's Semi-finals, followed by the Finals on May 12 and the Mixed Relay on Monday May 13.

Live stream of the Semi-finals and Finals is available on UIPM TV and all competition results are available at the UIPM website.

The 18 athletes who qualified for the Women's Final are: