It was Moutaz Mohamed who made Egypt proud when he displayed incredible performances to prove unbeatable as he won gold on home soil for his country in the men’s final of the 2026 Pentathlon World Cup Cairo.
As reported by the media of the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM), the 2025 world champion started the Laser Run with a 19sec deficit to the athlete who won silver in Kaunas, Lithuania, in August last year, but they ended up in the same podium positions after another blistering Laser Run from the world No 1.
A new format world record of 10:00.23 (for a points total of 1,608) saw the local favourite take the tape, roared on by a joyous home crowd, by 11sec from Mathis Rochat of France, with Mihaly Koleszar of Hungary clinching bronze.
In fencing, there was intrigue in the early rounds as Christian Zillekens of Germany made light work of Balazs Szep of Hungary and then pushed No 1 seed Gutkowski of Poland all the way, finally succumbing 4-5.
The Chinese emerged as contenders from the middle seedings where both Shuai Luo and Li enjoyed wins in the top 16 and top 8, accounting for some highly-rated athletes on their way to the semi-finals.
The biggest scalp came when Lukes of the Czech Republic eliminated Polish Gutkowski 5-3 in the top 8, and his run continued all the way to the final where Ivan Khamtsou (AIN) prevailed with a defensive masterclass, picking up the maximum 250 points. In the context of the overall competition, Lukes took a 36-point lead over gold medal favourite Mohamed.
The Obstacle discipline saw a home advantage but intensive training and supreme athleticism seemed to be the main factors as the crowd was treated to an Egyptian takeover in the men’s final.
Four of the top five times were set by local athletes, with four Egyptians and a Frenchman. Egypt’s Mustafa Abou Amer very nearly upstaged world record holder Mohamed Al-Ashqar with a deficit of just 0.06sec to his compatriot’s top time of 20.80.
The stunning exhibition of technique and talent was reprised by Mohamed Hassan with a record of 22.50 and world champion Mohamed’s 24.04, with only the Frenchman Rochat interrupting the Egyptian supremacy – a brilliant 22.73 took him to the top of the leaderboard.
Lukes of the Czech Republic stepped on to the course hoping to relieve his fellow 2025 World Championships medalist of the mantle of leadership, only to sustain a foot fault on Tilting Ladders that saw him crash down to ninth overall. It was a surprising concession with only one other athlete – Chinese Luo who failed to complete all obstacles at the first attempt, which meant the Egyptian Mohamed moved within 22 points of the top.
In swimming, there was another intriguing discipline that saw Mohamed close the gap on the front-runners as his heat 2 winning time of 54.74 was bettered only by his teammate Al-Ashqar, winning heat 3 in 54.70 ahead of the French Rochat, who refused to relinquish his overall lead. He took his place in pole position for the Laser Run with a 21sec lead over Mohamed, Al-Ashqar, Chinese Li and Hungary’s Koleszar, causing congestion in between.
As reported by UIPM, the Laser Run congestion didn’t take long to clear as Mohamed ran on a different level to most pentathletes and after a solid opening shoot, made his way into second place during the opening 600m to put early pressure on Rochat. An 8sec shoot saw the 21-year-old burst out of the range and into a lead he was never going to relinquish. Behind him, an intriguing game of cat and mouse was played out between Rochat and Hungary’s Koleszar, with the longer legs of the Frenchman finally proving decisive despite the Hungarian’s consistent sub-10 shooting.
“Performing at this level for the first time, Chinese Li did well to remain in the podium equation for much of the race, but never quite made it to the shoulder of the European duo destined to finish second and third. Ukraine’s Kovalchuk delivered a time of 10:03.84 that hints at big things for him in the season ahead.
“But nobody in the sport can match Moutaz Mohamed on present form, where he can afford to lose in the fencing top 16 and still win a pentathlon by double digits,” UIPM wrote.
After receiving his medal, Mohamed told journalists that his gold came despite being sick while competing. “I had a severe stomach ache the day before the competition which had affected my performance during the whole day. I felt fatigued but I insisted on overcoming my pain, which I did manage and clinched the gold medal.
“Winning a gold medal at the beginning of the season is great and an incentive for me to accomplish more championships and my goal is clinching an Olympic medal,” Mohamed said.
The Egyptian women were not as successful as the men with Ganah Al-Gindi ranking eighth. It was Blanka Guzi of Hungary who upstaged her Olympic champion team-mate to win the opening gold medal of the season, coming from behind to win the women’s final.
The Hungarian adapted best to the new pentathlon format to take her gold medal collection to three following successes in Budapest in 2023 and Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2024. The sport now features a shorter 100m swim and an additional shoot in Laser Run, where Guzi set a new world record of 10min 54.93sec as well as a new overall high of 1,488 points.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 April, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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