The governing body of Modern Pentathlon, The UIPM, has confirmed the list of 72 Athletes who will compete in next week’s World Cup Final in Hungary. The good news for Ballinasloe’s Sive Brassil is that She qualifies despite not being able to take part in the last qualifying event in Bulgaria due to feeling unwell but she and Natalya Coyle will represent Ireland in the Women’s Final.
Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe has qualified for the Men’s Final.
The 36 female and 36 male pentathletes qualified for the showpiece competition, which will take place in Szekesfehervar (HUN) from May 13-16, according to their finishing places in the three Pentathlon World Cups that took place in 2021 and the one that took place in 2020, before the suspension of all UIPM activity due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
The UIPM 2021 Pentathlon World Cup Final represents the penultimate opportunity for athletes to earn points towards the UIPM Olympic World Rankings, which will determine the remaining qualifiers for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The final chance to qualify will come at the UIPM 2021 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships in Cairo (EGY) in June, where there will also be up to three automatic quota places available for Tokyo 2020 along with the ranking points.
Four countries – Germany, Great Britain, Hungary and Mexico – achieved a maximum six selections for the Pentathlon World Cup Final, while Belarus, Lithuania will field the maximum quota of three women and Egypt, France and Mexico will each be represented by three men.
The highest-ranked athletes in the women’s list were Joanna Muir (GBR), Marie Oteiza (FRA) and Francesca Summers (GBR), while the top-ranked men were Woongtae Jun (KOR), Ilya Palazkov (BLR) and Adam Marosi (HUN).
The reigning world champions, Volha Silkina (BLR) and Valentin Belaud (FRA), were automatic qualifiers.
The withdrawal of Joseph Choong (GBR), Jun (KOR) and Martin Vlach of Czech Republic from the men’s event led to the inclusion of reserves, James Cooke (GBR), Ondrej Svechota (CZE) and Pierre Dejardin (FRA).
The withdrawal of Adelina Ibatullina of Russia and Sunwoo Kim (KOR) from the women’s event led to the inclusion of Mariana Arceo (MEX) and Sophia Hernandez of Guatemala.
As of May 4, 15 nations had confirmed participation in the Mixed Relay: Belarus, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Switzerland.
