The International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) has announced that Beijing will host the first four editions of its new Obstacle World Championships, with the events set to play out at the sports complex that was developed as the centrepiece of the 2008 Olympic Games.
The brand-new World Championships, set to launch in October and run on an annual basis, will be UIPM’s first step into the organisation of standalone obstacle competitions as part of the broader reform of the sport of modern pentathlon.
The UIPM said the competition will be hosted within the Beijing 2008 sports complex, which houses the likes of the National Stadium, or Bird’s Nest, National Aquatics Centre, or Water Cube, and National Indoor Stadium, and has since been heavily modernised and upgraded.
Hundreds of athletes from the obstacle and pentathlon communities are expected to travel to the Chinese capital to test their skills in Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) courses spanning 100m, 400m and 3km.
The launch of the competition follows the full integration of obstacle as a discipline of modern pentathlon, supported by the creation of the UIPM Obstacle Commission and an Obstacle Taskforce that was approved yesterday (Thursday) by the UIPM Executive Board.
The 73rd UIPM Congress voted in November to make statutory changes that established UIPM as the sole IOC-recognised Olympic International Federation governing obstacle sport worldwide.
However, the often controversial process to integrate obstacle into modern pentathlon dates back a number of years. In November 2022, the UIPM voted to approve obstacle as its new discipline in a bid to secure the sport’s Olympic Games future.
The sport was met with controversy during Tokyo 2020 when German coach Kim Raisner was seen punching a horse which had refused to jump a fence. Raisner was sent home from Japan and disciplined by the UIPM, triggering a process to replace horse riding as a modern pentathlon discipline.
Los Angeles 2028 is now set to feature the debut of the obstacle course event as part of modern pentathlon, along with fencing, swimming, and laser run. UIPM president Rob Stull said today: “The creation of the UIPM Obstacle World Championships (OCR) is an important step in the ongoing integration of this popular urban sport into our movement.
“Having successfully introduced obstacle as a new pentathlon discipline, it is key that we also provide exciting opportunities for existing OCR athletes to test their skills in a high-quality competitive environment. It’s going to be amazing to see how pentathletes measure up against their OCR specialist counterparts in October.
“As one of the world’s most populated cities with more than 22 million residents, we could hardly conceive a better venue than Beijing to start the UIPM Obstacle World Championships journey. Obstacle racing is all about universality and bringing sport to urban communities. The OCR scene in Asia is buzzing and it’s going to be a fascinating four years.”
The UIPM has strong Chinese ties. In October, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to mark the start of work on a wide-ranging modern pentathlon complex in Kunming. The facility, which has been backed by the UIPM will include an altitude training base and an international event centre.
Bin Zhang, president of the Chinese Modern Pentathlon Association (CMPA), added: “Obstacle sports such as OCR are already hugely popular in China, especially among young people, and we believe this World Championships will serve as a powerful catalyst for the development of modern pentathlon across the country.
“This agreement reflects China’s strong commitment to innovation in sport and our shared vision with UIPM to grow this dynamic discipline worldwide.”
