Modern Pentathlon

The modern version was introduced by Pierre de Coubertin at the Stockholm Games in 1912. It was his belief that this event would test “a man’s moral qualities as much as his physical resources and skills, producing thereby a complete athlete”.

Athletes score points through their performances in the first three events - swimming, fencing and show jumping.

Those points are converted to starting times for the closing laser run - a 3.2km cross-country test including four rounds of laser pistol shooting.

Having originally been held over five days, with one event per day, the Olympic modern pentathlon now takes just two with the first day comprising the ranking round of fencing where each competitor faces another in round-robin once.

The second day starts with the 200m freestyle swim followed by the fencing bonus round in which athletes are eliminated once defeated.

Next up is show jumping where the athletes are paired with unfamiliar horses before taking a course of 12 obstacles.

The climax is the laser run where the first athlete across the line takes gold.

Modern pentathlon made its first Olympic appearance as an individual event at Stockholm 1912 with a team event added at Helsinki 1952.

There were major changes for Atlanta 1996 with the team event dropped and the entire event taking place on one day instead of five.

Sydney 2000 hosted the first Olympic women's modern pentathlon competition.

At London 2012, the shooting and running disciplines were combined with laser guns used instead of lead-firing pistols for the first time for both safety reasons and reduced environmental impact.

And at Rio 2016, the fencing ranking round was introduced with a bonus round taking place alongside the other four disciplines on the second day.

Britain's Joe Choong added the world title in 2022 to his Olympic gold from Tokyo 2020.

He was chased home in Alexandria by Egypt's Mohamed El-Gendy, a year after brother Ahmed El-Gendy took silver in Tokyo.

Choong's compatriot Kate French won women's gold in Tokyo ahead of Lithuania's London 2012 champion Laura Asadauskaite.

As at previous Games, there was a fencing ranking round on the first day of competition where the 36-strong field all faced each other.

A total score of 70% victories (25 out of 35 possible bouts) equaled 250 Modern Pentathlon (MP) points. Each victory above 25 bouts added 5 points, while each defeat meant a deduction of 5 MP points.

All athletes then carried their points tally into the semi-finals, which were run according to the same order as the finals (Riding, Fencing Bonus Round, Swimming, Laser Run). The top 18 female and male athletes qualified for the finals.

Each semi-final and final began with riding. For the last time in Modern Pentathlon, a round of show jumping was scheduled, with 300 points going to the rider who completed a clear round within the time limit. Points were deducted for knockdowns and refusals, and falls resulted in elimination. Any athlete eliminated from riding scored zero points.

The next discipline was the fencing bonus round, where an athlete earned two points for each victory. The top fencer from the ranking round went last in the elimination format, meaning they only had one bout, and this bout was worth four points if they won it.

Then followed the swimming discipline, a 200m freestyle swim, with the best swim resulting in the highest score; 2 minutes 30 seconds equaled 250 MP points, and each second above this time deducted 2 MP points, while each second under the time added 2 MP points.

The laser run was the finale, with the overall leader of the competition starting first and all others starting according to a handicap based on their points deficit to the leader. The first athlete to cross the line won.