Women Take Team Gold at European Pentathlon Championships

Blanka Guzi at the 2024 Paris Olympics

The Hungarian women’s team, consisting of Blanka Bauer, Blanka Guzi and Noémi Eszes, won the gold medal, while Bauer came third in the individual competition on Friday at the European Modern Pentathlon Championships in Madrid.

Blanka Guzi also came close to winning a medal in the individual competition, finishing fourth, four seconds behind the podium, just as she did at last year’s Olympics. Noémi Eszes finished 14th and Emma Mészáros 18th. Rebecca Castaudi of France won, while Emma Whitaker of Great Britain finished second.

In the team competition, the French (silver) and Italians (bronze) joined the Hungarians on the podium.

The 42-strong field competed for the semifinals in two groups on Monday. All four Hungarians advanced, as they did from Wednesday’s semifinals, in which they had to finish in the top nine in two groups of 18. In the final, the Hungarians were joined by the Italians, French, and Swiss with at least three competitors, thus deciding the team competition medals among themselves.

In Friday morning’s elimination round, Emma Mészáros, competing in her first adult European Championship, had to win one bout to advance to the top 16, which she did, but then lost. Last year’s world championship silver medalist Blanka Guzi and Noémi Eszes started in the top 16, where Guzi lost and Eszes was eliminated after one victory.

Last year’s world champion Blanka Bauer, however, fought her way through to the final out of 16 competitors, only to suffer defeat there.

In the obstacle course, that replaced horse riding, Guzi and Mészáros finished in the top half of the field, and although Bauer finished further back, the time difference was not significant. Thanks to Bauer’s excellent fencing, she was in third place after two events. In the 200-meter swim, Guzi finished with the second-best time and moved up to fifth place overall, while Bauer retained her third position with her seventh place finish in the pool.

In the final combined event, the 3000-meter run interrupted by four shooting rounds, Blanka Bauer retained her podium position with a fifth-place finish, while Guzi moved up one place with the fourth-fastest time.

Prior to this, in 2018, the Hungarian women’s team won the European Championships in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, with Sarolta Kovács, Tamara Alekszejev and Zsófia Földházi proving to be the best.

Gold and Silver Medals at the Budapest Pentathlon World Cup