ROME — Egypt continued to dominate the UIPM 2022 Youth World Championships in Italy’s Lignano with a fifth gold medal and a silver in the Under 17 Women’s Relay.
Egyptian duo Ritage Ramadan and Farida Khalil won the gold in a thrilling sprint finish against their compatriots Sarah Mohamed and Ganah el-Gendy.
In the Men’s Relay, Osama Zaki and Yassin Elhady added to Egypt’s burgeoning medal tally with silver as Krystian Trepczyk and Bartosz Szmytke of Poland won the bronze. France’s Axel Fleurot and Karl Furderer earned the gold.
With only one duo from each nation allowed a medal, Amelie Treib and Nadja Farmand of Germany won silver in 3rd place as Zoe Spokes and Elizabeth Ryan of Great Britain picked up bronze in 4th.
Ramadan and Khalil (EGY) were 2nd-fastest in Swimming, only a fraction of a second slower than Enya Frouin and Mireia Vazquez of Spain, giving them a strong platform for the Laser Run with their compatriots Mohamed and El-Gendy (EGY) starting 17sec behind.
An exceptionally rapid Laser Run by Mohamed and El-Gendy (8min 57.30) very nearly earned them gold, also thanks to a 10sec penalty incurred by Ramadan & Khalil (EGY), but Khalil (EGY) prevailed in a sprint finish.
Treib and Farmand (GER) comfortably picked up the silver medal, finishing 13sec ahead of Spokes & Ryan (GBR).
Ramadan (EGY) said: “It’s amazing because in the individual final my shooting was really bad, even though I was 1st in Swimming. It’s an amazing feeling for us to win even though I had a 10sec penalty.
“Near the end I felt like we wouldn’t get it, but my partner did a great job. I couldn’t stand at the end, to celebrate with her!
Khalil (EGY) said according to the UIPM official website: “I was really happy, the finish was amazing. We both want to be champions in the Youth Olympic Games and the Olympic Games. Our role models are Salma Abdelmaksoud, Haydy Morsy and Ahmed el-Gendy.”
On Friday, the Egyptian U17 Women team of trio Ganah el-Gendy, Farida Abu Hashim and Sara Amr ranked first with 2,477 points, while the Hungarian team ranked second and the German came in the third place.
In the individuals’ competition of Women U17, El-Gendy won the silver medal with a score of 827 points.
Egyptian athlete Amr ranked fourth in the women individuals competition, while Farida Abu Hashim came in the fifth place and Ritaj Ramadan in the 18th.
Two days ago, Egyptian duo athletes Malak Ismail and Zeina Amer won gold medals at U19 Women races at the UIPM 2022 Youth World Championships.
Ismail and Amer came in the first place with a score of 989 points, while their rival UK duo came second and North Korea’s landed in the third place.
Sumin Shin of Korea and Marwan Allam of Egypt are the new world champions after exceptional performances at the Championships.
Egypt also won a silver medal while Hungary enjoyed a silver-bronze double and Poland claimed the remaining bronze as the first individual medals of the competition were earned.
Thirty-six U17s became the first to compete across three days (Qualification / Semi-finals / Final) according to the new elimination format designed for the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle.
The U17 team medals were also decided, with the prolific Egypt team enjoying a golden double.
Hungary won silver in the women’s competition ahead of bronze medallists Germany, while France won men’s team silver with host nation Italy picking up bronze for their first medal of the week.
More than 260 athletes from 35 nations are competing in the combined championships and the U17 individual titles follow U19 relay titles won by Lithuania, Egypt and Mexico.
Ganah of Egypt advanced an extraordinary 16 places in the Laser Run, after a modest swim, with the day’s best time of 9min 12.80sec. Still it wasn’t enough to defeat Shin (KOR), who finally prevailed by 5sec with a 9:20 Laser Run.
Behind her, there was a thrilling sprint for the medals and Emma Meszaros (HUN) claimed a hard-earned bronze narrowly ahead of team-mates Sarah Mohamed and Farida (EGY). Sixth place went to Zora Zeman (HUN).
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