ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's 12-year-old pentathlete Farida Khalil won the women's individual gold medal on Saturday at the 2023 U17 World Championships held by the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) in Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
Despite being among the youngest in the competition, Khalil came on top of 36 finalists from around the world with a total score of 1,338 points in the disciplines of fencing, obstacle, swimming and laser run, which is a combination of running and shooting.
The young athlete demonstrated an amazing swimming performance, coming first in her heat and topping the whole 200-meter swimming race within an unbeaten final time of two minutes and 14.48 seconds.
Her long practice of gymnastics helped her a lot in the obstacle race, a discipline that was newly introduced by the UIPM as a future replacement for horse riding.
"I set my eye on gold after all the hard training I have done. I am very happy that the hard work of past years has been rewarded," the little and very exhausted pentathlete told Xinhua after finishing the final laser run course, which she considered "the most difficult" of all disciplines.
"I dream of coming first in the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal," Khalil added.
Germany's 16-year-old athlete Nadja Farmand came in second place with a total score of 1,323 points.
Farmand did great in fencing and topped all other 35 contestants.
"I love fencing. It's my passion. The running part of the laser run race was OK for me, but the shooting was not my best," she pointed out.
"I am happy with my overall performance, and I am really proud that the German team came second in the women's final of this world championships," the German pentathlete told Xinhua, expressing her wish to compete in the 2028 Olympic Games.
Annachiara Allara of Italy came third with a total of 1,316 points.
As for teams, the Egyptian U17 women's team, comprising Khalil and her teammates Ganah El-Gindy and Sarah Mohamed, was the title-holder of Saturday's women's final, followed by Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Britain, South Korea and Mexico.
Egypt also claimed the women's team title at last year's worlds in Italy.
"Egypt is known to be one of the best worldwide in modern pentathlon," said Sherif El-Erian, UIPM vice president and head of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation.
The country's wins in women's individual and team finals this year "is more than wonderful," the Egyptian federation chief said, adding that he is proud of Khalil and that she's being prepared for years to be a future Olympic champion.
The 2023 UIPM U17 World Championships are held at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Alexandria from July 10 to 16. ■
