CAIRO — Egyptian pentathlete Ahmed el-Gendy clinched the gold medal of the UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup in Cairo as teammate Salma Abdel-Maksoud won the bronze medal in the women’s final.
“Through the Qualification and Semi-finals and now the Finals, we’ve already had a great competition here at the first UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup in the American University in Cairo,” UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said.
“We saw that the athletes are really well prepared from the winter season and they have adapted to the new format that we will have in Paris 2024. This is very hard, but when you see the results it is so exciting.
“I am quite happy and thankful to all the volunteers, sponsors, supporters and technicians who made it happen – and of course to the athletes for their high performance in a spirit of fairness that shows our sport is in a good position on the way to Paris,” Schormann added.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist El-Gendy (EGY) started the Laser Run almost half a minute off the lead but managed his race perfectly to win the Men’s Final ahead of silver medallist Csaba Bohm (HUN) and Martin Vlach of Czech Republic, who made up five places to claim bronze.
“I’m very happy to get this medal in my home country and in front of this crowd and my family, friends and all my coaches,” men’s champion El-Gendy said.
“Also I’m happy to be back on the podium a year and a half after the Olympics, because of injury.
“Four years ago I won the gold medal here in Egypt, in my first senior World Cup in 2019, and I’m so happy to get my second gold medal here,” El-Gendy added.
World No.1 Gulyas (HUN) took control of another Super as she overturned the lead of Elodie Clouvel of France to win the Women’s Final. Clouvel (FRA) fought hard to hold on to silver ahead of Abdel-Maksoud (EGY), who claimed her second consecutive bronze in the season-opener.
Women’s bronze medallist Abdel-Maksoud (EGY) said: “Thank you to my coaches and my family and everybody who helped me.
“The competition was very hard, but I started Laser Run 3rd and I’m very happy to finish 3rd.”
Women’s champion Gulyas (HUN) said: “My technical disciplines were very good – Fencing and Shooting were really amazing, I couldn’t have wished for better. My physical disciplines not so good, but it was OK because I could compensate with my technical disciplines.
“I have a very good mental coach, and my coaching team is also very good at helping in my preparation for competitions. The main competition is still further away this year, but hopefully I can keep this up.”
Silver medallist Clouvel (FRA) added: “In the last two weeks I had COVID, and my feeling was not too good. In my head, I wanted to be stronger, but I am so happy and I congratulate the girls because it was a good game today, a good competition.
“I’m very happy I could start my season this way and I thank my team, my coach, my partner, my family and Valentin – and see you in Ankara!
“I am preparing for Paris, and I’m focused step by step, competition by competition. My team is good, my coach is good and they have confidence and trust in me.”
Silver medallist Bohm (HUN) added: “I gave everything, absolutely everything, and it was hard both mentally and physically. I’m happy with the result.
“You could see my sad face after the shooting, because there was an indoor competition recently in Hungary and I messed up my shooting. All of my team around me are working on my shooting and I shot pretty well in the Qualification and Semi-final.”
Bronze medallist Vlach (CZE) said: “I really hoped I could make it to the top three. The guys in front of me were just too fast for me today.”
Asked about the secret to his consistent Laser Run speed, he said: “I can’t mention just one thing; it’s a continuous process that takes years and years. My coaches know what to do so I just follow their instructions.”
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