UIPM 2022 PENTATHLON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: HOSTS EGYPT GO ONE BETTER IN WOMEN'S RELAY

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT: July 25, 2022 – Haydy Morsy and Amira Kandil were the toast of Egypt after winning Women’s Relay gold on the second day of the UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Championships.

A day after the host nation claimed silver in the Men’s Relay thanks to Eslam Hamad and Ahmed Hamed, Tokyo 2020 Olympians Morsy & Kandil proved too hot to handle for the rest of the field.

A brave effort by Mariana Arceo and Mayan Oliver of Mexico almost ran them close, with only 7sec separating the top two teams at the end, while Korea added a bronze to their gold collected on day one, as Sehee Kim and Sunwoo Kim held off 4th-placed Wei Wang and Linzhi Xie of China.

RIDING

With six perfect rounds, including scores of 300 for Egypt (Morsy/Kandil), Mexico (Arceo/Oliver), Korea (Kim/Kim) and China (Wang/Xie), there was little to separate the main contenders.

There was, however, a significant development as Tamara Alekszejev and Rita Erdos of Hungary suffered the first elimination of the championships.

FENCING

Some athletes perform well in front of home crowds, while others crumble – Egypt’s pentathletes seem to save their best performances for these occasions. So it was no surprise to see Morsy & Kandil top the standings in the Fencing Ranking Round with 24V/11D.

The host nation added all four available points in the Bonus Round to their tally, refusing to give their rivals a glimmer of hope. Their nearest challengers on the piste were Ludovica Montecchia and Alice Rinaudo of Italy (22V/13D), Iryna Khokhlova and Valeriya Permykina of Ukraine (21V/14D + four bonus points) and Mexico (Arceo/Oliver, 21V/14D).

Credit: UIPM / Filip Komorous

Credit: UIPM / Filip Komorous

SWIMMING

The queens of the pool were Korea (Kim/Kim), with a time of 2min 03.91sec, but there was no major advantage gained as they were less than 1sec quicker than Italy (Montecchia/Rinaudo) and less than 2sec faster than China (Wang/Xie).

LASER RUN

Egypt (Morsy/Kandil) started with a 14sec cushion over Italy (Montecchia/Rinaudo) with Korea (Kim/Kim) 6sec further behind and Mexico (Arceo/Oliver) on the shoulders of the incumbent bronze medallists.

Indeed, the best performers in the Laser Run turned out to be Mexico (Arceo/Oliver) as the Tokyo 2020 Olympian team-mates timed an impressive 13:50. Had the hosts been a bit more sluggish, it might well have cost them gold but Egypt (Morsy/Kandil) delivered the second-best time of the day (14:05) as they secured the coveted title of world champion to delight their fans.

With Italy (Montecchia/Rinaudo) struggling to maintain their challenge, Korea (Kim/Kim) took full advantage and secured bronze with a time of 14:23.

Credit: UIPM / Filip Komorous

Credit: UIPM / Filip Komorous

MEDALLISTS' REACTION

Gold medallist Morsy (EGY) said: “I’m super happy that we were leading since the Fencing – we finished 1st and in the Riding we made a clear round and won the Bonus Round. In our Swimming heat we finished 3rd, not so good, but then in the Laser Run we finished 1st. I’m super happy to be here in Egypt with the gold medal with my team-mate.”

Team-mate Kandil (EGY) said: “It was an amazing day with Haydy – the whole day was very good. To be No.1 all day, nobody in Egypt has done it like this. Yesterday we were taking pictures with the boys with their silver medals and we told them we would get the gold and they said ‘no way!’”

Silver medallist Oliver (MEX) said: “We are very happy with this result. We were planning on giving our best for this relay and it ended up successful. I ran fine but I rushed my shooting.”

Team-mate Arceo (MEX) added: “We were Women’s Relay world champions in 2019 together and then the COVID-19 pandemic happened and it hit us hard, although in 2021 we still ended up in 4th place, very close from getting a medal. So yes, we’re very happy to get silver today and we’ll give our best next year to get gold!”

Bronze medallist Sehee Kim (KOR) said: “We were excited after the victory by our Men’s Relay team yesterday and we prepared well.

“Fencing was sometimes good and sometimes bad, Riding was good and Swimming was nice. In Laser Run we had some problems but we won the bronze medal and we are happy and excited.

“I thank my team-mate Sunwoo Kim so much. It’s midnight in Korea but we already received so many congratulations.”

Sunwoo Kim (KOR) added: “We have been team-mates for 10 years so we trust each other a lot, and we are good partners and good competitors. Thank you so much to my partner, it’s very nice.”

Photo credit: UIPM / Ehab Eid

PRESIDENT'S REACTION

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “We often talk about the importance of athletes from all continents occupying the podium at UIPM major championships, and today like yesterday, we had three continents on the podium.

“My congratulations go to the athletes from Egypt, Mexico, Korea and China for their excellent performances. Following a successful first day at the UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Championships we were treated to more excellent high performances.

“Once again my thanks go to the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation for the excellent organisation of our flagship World Championships for women and men, which are organised every year.

Thanks to the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport of Alexandria for their great partnership with high-quality facilities and accommodation.

“Tomorrow we will have the start of individual qualification with athletes from all countries starting their journey towards the dream of becoming world champion on Saturday.”

WATCH AND FOLLOW

The UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Championships are the first to feature Riding in the individual Semi-finals as well as the Final, testing the format that will be used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

All Semi-finals and Finals will be streamed live on UIPM.TV with results available at the UIPM website and via the UIPM Central app.

Live coverage of the UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Cup Final is available to UIPM.TV subscribers with annual packages costing €14.99.

Follow World Pentathlon on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout the Pentathlon World Championships for additional content.

COMPETITION SCHEDULE

UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Championships

Times denote start of UIPM.TV live coverage (CEST)

July 26: Men’s Qualification
July 27: Women’s Qualification | Men’s Fencing Ranking Round
July 28: Men’s Semi-final A (5pm) | Men’s Semi-final B (7.30pm) | Women’s Fencing Ranking Round
July 29: Women’s Semi-final A (5pm) | Women’s Semi-final B (7.30pm)
July 30: Men’s Final (4.30pm) | Women’s Final (8pm)
July 31: Mixed Relay (4pm)