France’s Mathis Issaka Idelarge won gold here in Saturday’s men’s final of the 2023 Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) U17 World Championships.
Idelarge, 16, won the title over other 35 male athletes after garnering a total of 1,445 points in five disciplines including fencing, obstacle race, swimming and laser run.
The Frenchman said he felt pain on his right side because of what he referred to as “muscle burning due to overtraining.”
“I worked very hard to earn it and I dream of winning the Olympic gold one day,” the champion told Xinhua.
“My favorite part is running. I am not really fond of the shooting part because I miss a lot of shots, but today it was not so bad and I did well in the laser run,” Idelarge explained.
The obstacle race was newly introduced by UIPM as a replacement for horse riding, and this format will be adopted in all future modern pentathlon competitions after the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“The obstacle race is very stressful, but it is kind of interesting so it is fine,” said Idelarge.
Idelarge was narrowly followed by silver medalist Bartosz Szmytke of Poland, who gained an overall 1,444 points. Egypt’s Tarek Sadek came third with 1,443 points.
Egypt had won the men’s team event, and added another team title after its female squad grabbed gold a couple of hours earlier.
Ukraine finished second while Poland got the bronze medal.
Held at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria from July 10 to 16, the 2023 UIPM U17 World Championships featured over 200 athletes from around the world.
