Continental crowns for Bryson (GBR) and Tovkai (UKR) in European Championships

Three gold medals for Italy and individual success for Kerenza Bryson of Great Britain and Oleksandr Tovkai of Ukraine provided the highlights of the 2024 European Senior Championships in Budapest (HUN) from 8-14 July.

Bryson (GBR) continued a prolific run of medals in the past 12 months by dominating the Women’s Final with a phenomenal 29 victories in the Fencing Ranking Round, enabling her to win by 18sec.

Anna Jurt of Switzerland enjoyed a breakthrough silver medal only days after discovering she had qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and bronze went to Bryson’s team-mate Emma Whitaker (GBR) with Mariya Gnedtchik (AIN) only 1sec behind.

Two-time world champion Elena Micheli (ITA) continued a steady recovery from injury with a 7th place, helping her country to win team gold with Francesca Tognetti and Alice Rinaudo also featuring in the Final.

Tovkai (UKR) built on the silver medal he won in the Men’s Relay at the recent UIPM 2024 Pentathlon World Championships with a surprise victory in the Men’s Final.

Like Bryson (GBR), he was the top fencer but this time by only a slim margin with his 24 victories equalled by Marvin Dogue of Germany (Tovkai won the additional four points in the Bonus Round). After a perfect score of 300 in Riding he finally won gold with a 10sec cushion over 2023 champion Giorgio Malan (ITA), who registered the fastest Laser Run of the Final to consign Dogue (GER) to bronze.

Italy again won the team gold thanks to Malan, 5th-placed Matteo Cicinelli and 8th-placed Federico Alessandro.

The week had already begun well for the Azzurri with Malan (ITA) and Cicinelli (ITA) enjoying success in the Men’s Relay, after Whitaker (GBR) had teamed up Alexandra Bousfield (GBR) to win the Women’s Relay.

The final day of the competition saw success for host nation Hungary as 2024 world bronze medallist Rita Erdos teamed up with Mihaly Koleszar to claim the Mixed Relay title.

Tatiana Ardabieva, President of the European Modern Pentathlon Confederation, said: “For years the Hungarian Federation has been among the most reliable partners of ECMP, providing a high-level European Championships. We all remember outstanding Senior European Championships in Szekesfehervar in 2014, 2018 and 2023. 

“Since 2024 was a special edition – in the year of the Olympic Games and the last season Modern Pentathlon includes Riding – the capital city of Budapest was chosen to host the competition. As usual the preparation and the execution of the event was impeccable. A special show with a farewell to Riding as part of the programme.

“All participants acknowledged the high competition level of the championships. On behalf of ECMP I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Hungarian Federation for their professionalism and unprecedented dedication and love for Modern Pentathlon.”