The women finished the modern pentathlon event on the last day of Olympic competition. Entering the day, Elodie Clouvel was the top athlete, followed by Hungary’s Michelle Gulyas and Great Britain’s Kerenza Bryson rounded out the top three after setting an Olympic record during the women’s semifinal.
Gulya’s strong performance in the laser run, particularly the shooting range, lifted her past Clouvel and the Hungarian stole the gold in the last event of the modern pentathlon. It was almost a fairytale ending for Clouvel, who ran home to the crowd chanting “El-o-die”, she was still elated to win silver in front of her home fans at the Palace of Versailles. South Korea’s Seong Seungmin secured the bronze to round out the medals in the final modern pentathlon featuring equestrian.
Gulyas was in disbelief after the race, “Standing here with my gold medal, I’m holding it in my hand but still it’s hard to believe that I’m an Olympic champion, so I still need a few hours to realize what has been going on the whole day and what I’ve made.”
Overnight, defending champion Kate French of Great Britain withdrew from the competition because of illness. She was in fifth after the semifinals and was still within reach of a medal in the final.
Eight riders had clean rides in the riding discipline, the highest in any final or semifinal event for the men and women. Seong and Gulyas continued their strong performance as two of the perfect riders and moved are now second and third in the standings behind Clouvel, who only had one penalty.
Unfortunately, Spain’s Laura Heredia’s horse refused to jump three times, which eliminated her and ended her medal hopes. France’s Marie Oteiza fell off her horse and was devastated as her competition all but ended.
In the bonus fencing round, Italians Elena Micheli secured six wins, an impressive feat, as the next closest athlete was compatriot Alice Sotero with three. Micheli’s strong fencing performance helped launch her from sixth to third in the standings. As a reminder, the fencing round from Day 1 is the only score that doesn’t reset after the semifinal.
The final heat of the swim, saw the leaders enter the pool. It was a photo finish at the wall. Seong just out touched Clouvel with a time of 2:11.47 for 288 points. Sotero had the fastest time of the day with a time of 2:09.93 for 291 points. Bryson did not have a strong swim, and finished 15th overall, which dropped her to seventh in the overall standings.
Laser run showdown
Entering the laser run, Clouvel had a 13-point lead over Gulyas in second. Then, there was an 18-point gap to Seong in third, which meant Clouvel started with a 31-second head start on everyone in the laser run other than Gulyas (13 seconds). Micheli was only two points behind Seong, which set up an exciting race for bronze.
Couvel had a less-than-ideal first shooting round for the second day in a row (she timed out in her first range stop the semifinal). She entered the range first and left after Gulyas. Clouvel had to expend maximum energy on the run to try catch Gulyas again at the range for the second time.
Clouvel’s second stop at the range was an improvement, only missing three shots, but Gulyas was better and Seong caught up and left the range right before Clouvel. Gulya’s third stop at the range was an impressive 8.02 seconds to clear all five shots. Gluyas’ fourth stop at the range, was slower but she left the range first and Clouvel left shortly after her, but Gluyas was too far in front.
Gluyas crossed the finish line first to win the gold in the modern pentathlon and pulled off the upset over Clouvel. The Hungarian demonstrated why the winner of the modern pentathlon is considered the best “overall athlete”, it was her shooting that separated her from the pack. She finished with a world record of 1,461 points. It's her first Olympic medal after finishing twelfth in Tokyo. Hungary has now won 10 gold medals in modern pentathlon, breakin a tie with Sweden for most all-time.
The Hungarian was laser focused durin the run, “It was tough, when 15,000 people are around you and you try to run and shoot, its tough, but all I was thinking about was the tactical part - what I need to do. I was focused on my shooting and I know what I had to do and how to do it.”
Clouvel escaped with the silver medal after a fantastic performance in the other three disciplines. It’s Clouvel’s second silver medal at the Olympics after winning the silver at the 2016 Rio Games. She remains the only individual French medalist in any modern pentathlon event.
After the race, Clouvel was happy and content with the finish. “It’s engraved in my heart for life. I will forever remember this moment.”
“Finishing in second place, winning silver, it’s my place today. Congratulations to Michelle for the amazing shooting today.”
Seong collected the bronze and became the youngest female medalist in the event at 21-years-old. She is the first-ever female medalist from South Korea in modern pentathlon. A good eight weeks for the pentathlete as she won the 2024 World Championships right before the Games.
The 21-year-old is alreadying looking at LA 2028. “It was my first time at the Olympics. It feels really great to have this bronze medal, but I still want to get the gold so I am looking forward to the next Games.”
RIDING RESULTS l BONUS FENCING RESULTS l SWIMMING RESULTS l LASER RUN RESULTS