Jun Woong-tae wins gold medal at UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup

South Korea’s famous modern pentathlete Jun Woong-tae won the third round of the International Modern Pentathlon Federation (UIPM) World Cup, returning to the world’s highest spot in the rankings this season.

Jun scored a total of 1,534 points in the men's final of the third round of the World Cup held on Sunday in Budapest, Hungary, with Mohanad Shaban of Egypt, who scored 1,530 points, in second place. Last month, he also gained a silver medal in the second round of the World Cup in Ankara, Türkiye. He did not participate in the first round in Cairo, Egypt in March.

Jun ranked first in fencing, fourth in swimming, and eleventh in horseback riding, the total score of which made him top the race. This allowed him to depart five seconds earlier than Shaban in the laser run, a combination of track & field and shooting. Although taking eighth place in the laser run, he could grab a gold medal thanks to the gap in scores already widened in the early games.

Winning this competition enabled him to move from No. 2 to take away the top spot from Joe Choong, the British gold medalist in the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Jun became the first South Korean Olympic medalist in modern pentathlete, earning a bronze medal in Tokyo.

“I am happy to gain a gold medal following a silver one earned in the second round of the World Cup. I stayed in Europe after the second round to get trained for the next competition,” Jun said in an interview. “I will gear up for the World Modern Pentathlon Championships in Britain in August and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.” If he wins in the Asian Games, it will be his second straight victory in the competition.

Seo Chang-wan ranked fourth with 1,523 points. Marten Blach of the Czech Republic scored 1,525 points, ranking third.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com