UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Cairo: Khalil (EGY) announces elite arrival with Women’s Final gold

Teenage sensation Farida Khalil of Egypt has announced her arrival on the elite Modern Pentathlon scene with gold in the Women’s Final at the season-opening UIPM 2025 Pentathlon World Cup Cairo.

After a surprising defeat in Fencing, 14-year-old Khalil (EGY) stood out in Obstacle and Swimming and secured gold by a remarkable margin of 19sec with the 3rd-fastest Laser Run time.

Two individual neutral athletes joined Khalil (EGY) on the podium for the first time, as Viyaleta Hureyeva comfortably secured silver and Anastasiya Malashenoka claimed bronze under pressure from Paris 2024 Olympic champion Michelle Gulyas of Hungary, who was forced to accept 4th place as a new generation signalled their intent to shake up the sport on the road to Los Angeles 2028.

Fencing

Under the brand new Modern Pentathlon format, with direct elimination Fencing in both the Semi-finals and Final, athletes were seeded for both knockout competitions based on a Seeding Round held in Cairo (EGY) on February 26.

Khalil (EGY) and Gulyas (HUN) were the top two seeds based on that round robin, but there was a big early upset in the Final as Beatrice Mercuri of Italy defeated Paris 2024 Olympic champion Gulyas (HUN) in the Round of 16. Then her team-mate Alice Rinaudo (ITA) accounted for Khalil (EGY) in the Quarter-finals.

The Italians continued to shine, winning six bouts in total, while none of the four Hungarians progressed to the last eight. Finally it was 5th seed Elzbieta Adomaityte of Lithuania, who stopped the run of 9th seed Rinaudo (ITA) in the last four, while 3rd seed Hureyeva (AIN) defeated 15th seed Mercuri (ITA). And there was another upset in the final bout as Adomaityte (LTU) secured victory for the maximum 250 points.

Obstacle

With a challenging course testing athletes for the third time in the competition, there was evidence of improvement across the course with hardly any falls and no eliminations.

Jana Attia (EGY) set an impressive standard with 34.11sec, but Khalil (EGY) went one better with 33.71 (344 points) to move into the overall lead after winning the fastest race of the Final versus Aurora Tognetti (ITA), who remained very much in contention with a 36.68.

Coline Flavin (FRA) also impressed in 36.01 and, crucially, Hureyeva (AIN) got the better of Adomaityte (LTU) in the last race. But their speed was not on a par with the Egyptians, and they fell in the overall standings to joint 3rd and 7th respectively.

Swimming

The second of three heats was highly competitive, with Mercuri (ITA) outpacing Gulyas (HUN) on the final lap for a 2:18.46 to the Olympic champion’s 2:20.10. But the host nation favourite seemed unstoppable at this stage, Khalil (EGY) winning Swimming as well as Obstacle with a comfortable win in the final heat (2:17.66).

After three quickfire disciplines, Khalil (EGY) went into Laser Run with an 18sec lead over Hureyeva (AIN) and 20sec over Tognetti (ITA), with Gulyas (HUN) lurking in 6th place, 36sec off the lead but certainly not out of contention.

Laser Run

Khalil (EGY) and Hureyeva (AIN) looked comfortable throughout, shooting unflappably and running with composure. For two athletes who had never previously won medals at this level, the control of nerves was truly impressive.

Gulyas (HUN) moved up to 4th at the first shoot as Tognetti (ITA) lost ground, and then reeled in Malashenoka (AIN) on the second lap. Flavin (FRA) moved into the top six on the third lap, followed closely by Erdos (HUN) and the rapidly advancing Mariya Gnedtchik (AIN), who set the day's fastest time of 10min 52.30sec.

Undeterred by the status of the athlete on her shoulder, Malashenoka (AIN) shot brilliantly at the range, determined to keep Gulyas (HUN) off the podium and extending her lead in the final two laps, leaving her rival with too much ground to make up.

Gulyas (HUN) came home in 4th followed by Gnedtchik (AIN), Erdos (HUN), Flavin (FRA) and Tognetti (ITA).

Click here to view the Women's Final results.