Which sports are in the modern pentathlon?
The modern pentathlon is about to become the old pentathlon following Paris 2024.
The modern pentathlon has found itself the subject of some hotly contested debate in recent years, chiefly between the sport’s organisers and some of its top competitors.
This most recently has centred on a decision to change the event line-up after the Paris 2024 Olympics, following an incident with a horse being punched by a coach in Tokyo.
The modern pentathlon finds its roots in the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, which featured running, jumping, javelin, discus and wrestling, with the event’s name derived from Greek, combining "pente" (five) and "athlon" (competition).
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It has been an event for men at the Summer Olympics since 1912, and was added to the women’s schedule at the Olympics for the first time at the Sydney 2000 Games.
But with the modern pentathlon having undergone great changes since its introduction, and with it soon to be tweaked again, read on for the breakdown from RadioTimes.com of how it currently works.
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Which sports are in the modern pentathlon?
As of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the five sports involved in the modern pentathlon are fencing, swimming, equestrian (horse-riding), shooting and running.
These are split into four events, with running and shooting combined into what has been called the "laser run".
After the Paris Olympics, horse riding is set to be replaced by an obstacle course discipline.
The fencing (involving an electric épee) has the most to it, first involving a ranking round in which every athlete competes against all other athletes for a total of 35 one-on-one bouts, each limited to one minute in length or the time taken for one competitor to land a hit anywhere on their opponent’s body – whichever comes first.
A bout where neither athlete scores a hit is registered as a defeat for both.
250 points are awarded for achieving a 70 per cent win rate (25 out of 35 bouts), with six points added or deducted for every additional win or loss, respectively.
The second ("bonus") round of fencing is single elimination – you lose, you’re out – with 45-second bouts, opponents determined by positions from the ranking round and a bonus point scored for each bout won.
In the equestrian, riders are allocated an unfamiliar horse 20 minutes before they compete. After a maximum of five practice jumps, they must navigate through 12 show-jumping obstacles.
Completing the round in the allotted time is rewarded with 300 points, with deductions for any penalties.
The swimming event sees pentathletes seeded into heats based on their Pentathlon World Ranking swimming time.
They must then swim 200m of any stroke, with the benchmark of two minutes and 30 seconds earning an athlete 250 points while every one-third of a second above or below that time equates to one point added or deducted.
The points scored in the fencing, riding and swimming events are then used to determine each athlete’s starting position for the final event: the laser run.
This involves athletes running a total distance of 3200m, during which there are four shooting stops. At each shooting stop the athletes have either 50 seconds or an unlimited number of shots to hit five electronic targets with a laser pistol from a distance of 10m.
The staggered start for the laser run is determined by how far back each athlete is from the leader following the fencing, riding and swimming rounds; every point corresponds to a one-second delay.
Whoever then crosses the finish line first in the laser run is declared the winner.
In Paris, the fencing ranking rounds for men and women take place on one day, with a 90-minute format for the semi-finals and finals taking place on subsequent days.
The 90-minute format is in order as follows:
- 35 minutes of equestrian
- 5 minutes break
- 20 minutes of fencing (bonus round)
- 10 minutes break
- 15 minutes of swimming (200m)
- 15 minutes break
- 20 minutes laser run (combined running and shooting)
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