Egyptians clinched two gold and two silver medals in the final of the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) 2023 Under-19 World Championships held in Istanbul. Egypt hosted and won at the U-17 earlier this month in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria.
The two gold medals were won by Malak Ismail, who won the women’s gold medal with 1,391 total points and helped the Egyptian women’s team deservingly clinch the gold medal with total points of 4,055 ahead of Hungary and France, according to the “Ahram Online” website.
Though the Egyptian men’s team failed to clinch an individual medal, they managed to claim the team’s silver medal with 4,394 points, coming behind France, which determined the gold medal with 4,422 points, and ahead of Hungary, which collected 4,372 points.
The second silver medal for the Egyptians was won at the mixed team event, with Fairda Khalil and Mohamed Sherif coming second with 1,336 points behind the French duo, who claimed the gold medal with 1,377 points. The bronze medal went to South Korea with 1,342 points.
The Egyptians, who took part in the one-week event with a delegation of six males and six female athletes, thus continued their dominance of the sport in all age groups and individual, team, and mixed team discipline in any competition, whether the World Cup or the World Championships. Seeing Egyptian athletes on the podium at these events has become a norm in the modern pentathlon.
According to the UIPM website, Ismail gave a further signal of Egypt’s golden generation of emerging talent as she claimed the women’s gold with a superb all-around performance. Ismail carried a massive lead into the laser run but almost saw victory disappear as Sumin Shin of South Korea stormed to silver. Bronze went to Zora Zeman of Hungary. The team gold also went to Egypt, with Hungary taking silver and France bronze.
President of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation, Sherif Al-Erian, talked about how proud he was of the achievements of the young Egyptian pentathletes. “They have been doing great, in the U-17 in Alexandria two weeks ago and now at the U-19 in Istanbul. They have easily coped with the new sequence and claimed medals in both events.
