UIPM 2026 Pentathlon Junior World Championships: Sych (UKR) and Vorlicek (CZE) get ahead in Men’s Semi-finals
Danylo Sych of Ukraine and Dan Vorlicek of Czechia looked unstoppable as 18 athletes qualified for the Men’s Final on the fourth day of the UIPM 2026 Pentathlon Junior World Championships in Kaunas (LTU).
Last year’s silver medallist, Sych (UKR) was surprised in Fencing as he was defeated in the Top 2 by Florent Schoen of France, with Jed Collins of Ireland and Kivanc Tasyaran of Türkiye also reaching the Top 4. Collins (IRL) continued to excel in Obstacle with a time of 22.27sec only bettered by Sebastian Forrest of Great Britain in 22.21, with Franciszek Dubrawski of Poland also performing superbly in 22.30.
As the sport’s fastest swimmer, Matteo Bovenzi of Italy unsurprisingly moved into the overall lead with a massive Swimming performance of 51.34, leading Laser Run from Collins (IRL) in 2nd and Sych (UKR) 3rd. But Sych (UKR) took control during the run-shoot, recording exactly the same time as team-mate Maksym Kovalchuk (UKR) as the top two qualified with 17sec between them, followed home by Bovenzi (ITA), Collins (IRL), Forrest (GBR) and Tasyaran (TUR).
Behind the top six, there was plenty of drama as fantastic Laser Run times by Nikolaos Papadimitriou of Greece (10min 31.71sec) and Matej Kornel of Czechia (10:38.98) propelled them up to 7th and 8th respectively. A tiring Yusei Takano of Japan managed to hold on to claim his Final place ahead of Egypt duo Sief Soliman and Mohamed Adel Elgendy.
Vorlicek (CZE), a newcomer at Junior level who turned 19 on July 20, looked at home in the high-performance zone in Semi-final B as he finished 7sec clear of European junior champion Oleg Rybak (UKR) with last season’s World Junior bronze medallist Botond Tamas of Hungary finishing 3rd.
Domonkos Gyepessy (HUN) won the Fencing round after fending off Etienne Clergeau (FRA), who had stunned Mohamed Hassan (EGY) with a stunning aerial shot to win 5-4 and reach the final fight. Ernest Brugot (FRA) also made the Top 4 and followed up with the second-fastest Obstacle time of 23.20, bettered only by the peerless Hassan (EGY) in 21.06, while Clergeau (FRA) faulted twice on the Globes and was eliminated.
Tamas (HUN) set the standard in Swimming with a 54.91, and the Laser Run heroics came from Omar Amer (EGY), who had a long way to come back after starting in a 1:30 mass handicap start. A brilliant 10:03.76 saw him battle his way into the top nine and he finished far enough ahead of 10th-placed Oleksandr Chernyshev (UKR) to cancel out his handicap surplus.
- UIPM 2026 Pentathlon Junior & U17 World Championships: All You Need to Know
- Competition results
- Photography via Flickr
Watch and follow
The UIPM 2026 Pentathlon Junior & U17 World Championships take place from July 23-29, with livestream of the Junior Semi-finals and Finals available to watch free on YouTube based on the following schedule (TV times listed in Central European Summer Time):
Monday July 27
- U17 Men’s Final
- Junior Finals
- Women’s Final (LIVE 09:00)
- Men’s Final (LIVE 14:00)
Tuesday July 28
- U17 Women’s Final
- Junior Women’s Relay & Men’s Relay
Wednesday July 29
- U17 Mixed Relay
- Junior Mixed Relay
Got the app? Download UIPM Central via Apple or Google to track what’s happening in Lithuania.
You can also visit the UIPM website for the latest results and daily news.
Follow UIPM on your favourite social media throughout the season for more content:
Upcoming events
