Modern Pentathlon: Paris 2024 Olympic Swimming Highlights

Modern pentathlon is one of the most quintessentially Olympic sports, introduced at the 1912 Games in Stockholm as a showcase of comprehensive athletic ability. In modern pentathlon, athletes compete in five separate disciplines: fencing, equestrian, swimming, running, and shooting. The founder of the modern Olympic games took inspiration from the ancient Olympics (with events like javelin, discus, long jump, running, and wrestling) but wanted to modernize it with disciplines that would emulate the skillset needed for a soldier of the time, to find the most well-rounded athlete. 

THE EVENT

Each individual sport of fencing, show jumping, and swimming is scored on a point basis, with the running and shooting being held at the same time in a competition called a “laser run,” similar to biathlon in the Winter Olympics. The points earned from the first three events determine the start order in the 3000m laser run, and the first person to cross the finish line wins. For this article, I’ll be focusing primarily on the swimming discipline. For more detailed information about the event, check out NBC’s review of the sport.

The swimming competition took place in the gardens of Versailles, a much different venue than we saw at the La Défense Arena. The 25-meter temporary pool was set up directly behind the equestrian competition arena, where all events except the initial fencing rounds were held. The modern pentathlon pool featured only six lanes, with virtually no buffer between the outside lanes and the side walls. 

The men’s and women’s finals featured 18 athletes each, and a 200 freestyle (SCM) was raced. The baseline for scoring in the swimming portion is a 2:30, which equates to 250 points. Each 0.50 second faster than the baseline time earns one more point (rounded up) to the athlete’s total. The same works in reverse, with each 0.50 slower than 2:30 subtracting one point from the original 250.

THIS YEAR’S ATHLETES

The fastest male swimmer this year was Joseph Choong from Great Britain, swimming a 1:57.52 to earn 315 points. The fastest female swimmer was Italy’s Alice Sotero, who swam a 2:09.93 to earn 291 points. Choong ended up placing ninth overall, and Sotero finished 13th. The men’s winner, Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy, finished his swim in a 1:59.30, earning 312 points. Hungary’s Michelle Gulyas won for the women, swimming a 2:12.44 to earn 286 points. The modern pentathlon SCM swimming world records are held by Italy’s Matteo Bovenzi (1:49.13, 332 points) and Great Britain’s Samantha Murray (2:03.84, 303 points). Many of these top athletes come from running or swimming backgrounds before they ventured into the world of modern pentathlon. 

This being said, the fastest swimmers both missing out on the podium is indicative of the multi-faceted nature of the sport, the idea that the whole event is not won within one discipline. Women’s gold medalist Michelle Gulyas and bronze medalist Seungmin Seong were the only medalists to place in the top half in every discipline (at least ninth in a field of 18), with every other medalist having at least one area of weakness. Elgendy, the men’s gold medalist, was 11th overall in the laser run but first in fencing. Taishu Sato, the men’s silver medalist, was 12th in the swim, but second in riding. Bronze medalist Giorgio Malan was 14th in the fencing rounds, but first in riding and fifth in his other two disciplines. Women’s silver medalist Elodie Clouvel was 14th in the laser run, but first in fencing. Each one of these podium athletes had very consistent runs throughout, and if they fell shorter in one event, they made up for it in another.

Men’s Medalists:

1. Ahmed Elgendy, Egypt (1555 points, WR)
2. Taishu Sato, Japan (1542 points)
3. Giorgio Malan, Italy (1536 points)

Women’s Medalists:

1. Michelle Gulyas, Hungary (1461, WR)
2. Elodie Clouvel, France (1452)
3. Seungmin Seong, South Korea (1441)

Full results from the men’s swimming final:

1. Joseph Choong, Great Britain: 1:57.52 (315)
2. Alexandre Dallenbach, Switzerland: 1:57.64 (315)
3. Csaba Bohm, Hungary: 1:58.94 (313)
4. Matteo Cicinelli, Italy: 1:59.06 (312)
5. Giorgio Malan, Italy: 1:59.23 (312)
6. Ahmed Elgendy, Egypt: 1:59.30 (312)
7. Woongtae Jun, South Korea: 1:59.41 (312)
8. Changwan Seo, South Korea: 2:01.53 (307)
9. Emiliano Hernandez, Mexico: 2:03.39 (304)
10. Pavels Svecovs, Latvia: 2:03.71 (303)
11. Fabian Liebig, Germany: 2:04.18 (302)
12. Taishu Sato, Japan: 2:04.21 (302)
13. Lukasz Gutkowski, Poland: 2:05.28 (300)
14. Mohanad Shaban, Egypt: 2:05.35 (300)
15. Balazs Szep, Hungary: 2:05.83 (299)
16. Marvin Dogue, Germany: 2:07.00 (296)
17. Valentin Prades, France: 2:07.07 (296)
18. Jean-Baptiste Mourcia, France: 2:10.05 (290)

Full results from the women’s swimming final:

1. Alice Sotero, Italy: 2:09.93 (291)
2. Seungmin Seong, South Korea: 2:11.47 (288)
3. Elodie Clouvel, France: 2:11.64 (287)
4. Michelle Gulyas, Hungary: 2:12.44 (286)
5. Elena Micheli, Italy: 2:12.47 (286)
6. Ilke Ozyuksel, Türkiye: 2:15.48 (280)
7. Blanka Guzi, Hungary: 2:16.25 (278)
8. Marie Oteiza, France: 2:16.84 (277)
9. Malak Ismail, Egypt: 2:16.94 (277)
10. Mingyu Zhang, China: 2:17.66 (275)
11. Sunwoo Kim, South Korea: 2:17.67 (275)
12. Gintare Venckauskaite, Lithuania: 2:18.16 (274)
13. Lucie Hlavackova, Czechia: 2:20.54 (269)
14. Annika Zillekens, Germany: 2:20.71 (269)
15. Kerenza Bryson, Great Britain: 2:21.77 (267)
16. Laura Heredia, Spain: 2:24.14 (262)
17. Laura Asadauskaite, Lithuania: 2:24.52 (261)
18. Anna Jurt, Switzerland: 2:28.96 (253)

COMPARISON WITH OLYMPIC SWIMMING

To put things in perspective in the swimming world, the winning 200 freestyle times from the last short course worlds were Siobhan Haughey’s 1:51.65 and Sunwoo Hwang’s 1:39.72. With this time, Haughey hypothetically would’ve scored 327 points, and Hwang would’ve scored 351 points. The world record holders in these events are Paul Biedermann (1:39.37, 352 points), and Haughey (1:50.31, 329 points). While it is comparing apples to oranges across the two different sports, as we’ve never seen these tried-and-true swimmers run a 3k (much less while stopping to shoot a laser gun in the middle of the race) it’s still interesting to see how they stack up. Both current swimmers would have around a 40-point lead over the field in the swim, which is equivalent to around 10 more wins in fencing, six less faults in show jumping, or 40 seconds faster in the laser run. This comparison allows us to visualize a world in which the fastest 200m freestylers are more than just swimmers, but modern pentathletes, and we’d get to see Siobhan Haughey and Sarah Sjostrom go head-to-head in a fencing bout and Biedermann and Hwang duke it out in their equestrian endeavors.