Versailles. Hungary’s Michelle Gulyas took gold in the women’s modern pentathlon at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday after breaking the world record for points in the sport’s final, which featured horses before moving on to obstacle courses.
France’s Elodie Clouvel took silver after starting the final laser run with a 13-second lead, but suffering a series of agonising misses on the target. South Korea’s Seong Seung-min took bronze.
Gulyas finished with 1,461 points, nine more than Clouvel, whose time to reach all the targets during the four stops of the 3,000-meter course was by far the slowest of the competitors.
With a large crowd making a lot of noise, especially for local singer Clouvel, Gulyas kept her nerves steady with a steady arm and gaze on a hot and bright afternoon.
“During the shoot I tried to focus only on myself,” the 23-year-old told reporters. “So I was thinking: 15,000 people, who cares?”
“But of course I cared because during the race it helped me a lot. Thanks to the crowd, I always knew where Elodie was, because depending on which side I was running on, the crowd was very, very loud. So I didn’t even have to look back,” she added.
Gulyas was the first Hungarian gold medallist in the women’s modern pentathlon since Zsuzsanna Voros in 2004, while Seong was the first Asian woman to win a medal in the discipline. Clouvel’s silver added to her win at Rio 2016.
“It’s been an incredible challenge,” said the Frenchwoman. “This season I’ve had some really ups and downs: a loss of confidence, I thought I couldn’t do it anymore, I panicked.”
“Today I kept my head and my arm… I’m very happy to have this medal, my second Olympic medal. It’s crazy,” she added.
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– 2024-08-15 19:31:16
