Who will triumph in the Obstacle and Laser Run?

Student-athletes from 19 countries will be competing in Lithuania during the Kaunas 2024 FISU World University Championship Modern Pentathlon.

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. The city was selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2022, together with Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg and Novi Sad. And during five days, from 20-24 of August, it will welcome the best FISU modern pentathlon specialists.

The sports

Modern Pentathlon is an evolving sport. Originally made up of five disciplines – which it is named after – and invented by founder of the Modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, it consisted of fencing, swimming, equestrian, athletics and shooting and aimed at rewarding the most complete athlete. But the recent Paris 2024 Olympic Games were the last time horses were part of Modern Pentathlon. Equestrian will now be replaced by Obstacle, which was elected by the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (IUMP) as an exciting new discipline, which will contribute to propel Modern Pentathlon into a new era and make it one of the most exciting, accessible and popular sports.

The only FISU Modern Pentathlon event took place was the Budapest 2018 FISU World University Championship in Hungary. Back then, Modern Pentathlon still included fencing and swimming, together with Laser Run. As it is acceptable to have “up to five disciplines”, in Kaunas, student-athletes will compete in two of them: Obstacle and Laser Run.

What is Obstacle?

Obstacle was formally integrated into Modern Pentathlon by the 72nd UIPM Congress in November 2022. The term ‘Obstacle’ encompasses various types of obstacle racing across the categories of Ninja, OCR and Adventure Racing. The video probably explains it better than words!

What is Laser Run ?

The Laser Run is the most exciting creation of UIPM, coming from the combined event and launched in 2015 as a stand-alone as the last part of full Modern Pentathlon competition. Laser Run combines running and shooting in fast-paced and dynamic races including rounds of laser pistol shooting from 5 to 10 meters distance and running laps from 300m to 600m. Athletes have to hit in the green a target 5 times before they can run. 

The teams

Teams from 19 countries and from all continents have signed up to take part in this exciting event. Will Egypt and Hungary win gold medals like in Paris, with respectively Ahmed Elgendy and Michelle Gulyas winning the men’s and women’s individual competitions?

The programme

20 August: Opening Ceremony

21 August: Individual Qualifications

22 August: Individual Finals men/women

23 August: Team Competition

24 August: Mixed Relays and Closing Ceremony

You can find more information, pictures and results on the event’s official website. Good luck to all competitors in Kaunas!

Written by Thérèse Courvoisier