1979 Modern Pentathlon World Championship

The show jumping, built by the craftsmen Iene Varadi and Istvan Sobachi, was considered by experts to be difficult.

The first to start was the Soviet athlete Ryabikin. He covered the distance in 1 minute and 49.8 seconds without errors. All subsequent riders could not surpass this indicator, although six more athletes managed to pass the route without penalty points. Among them: Pechak (Poland), Starnowski (Czechoslovakia), Horvath and Kanchal (Hungary), Werner (Germany), P. Witside (Great Britain). All received a maximum amount of 1100 points. Failure Dane Petraeus. The horse that got to him during the workout behaved normally, allowing only one fall, and refused to jump on the competitive field. The rider tried for a long time to subjugate her, but realizing that his efforts were futile, he bowed to the judges and left the field. Starostin was no better off. His horse touched almost all the obstacles, and he lost 120 points.

The Englishman Nightingel and the Canadian A. Williams were also in a hopeless situation. Their low results in show jumping were subsequently unequivocally attributed to the commission for dragging horses, which allowed obviously unprepared horses to start.

The first view with a brilliant 3270 points was won by the Hungarian team. After this success, many were inclined to enroll her in the championship winners, although there were still four difficult days ahead. The second place went to the Italian team, which received 3212 points, followed by the national teams of Germany (3152 points), the USSR (3150), the USA (3120) and Sweden (3110). The Egypt team made a good debut in the show jumping. She received 2998 points and took 8th place.

The fencing marathon began at the Youth Palace at 9 a.m. and lasted until 1 a.m. During the whole time the stands were filled. Naturally, all the spectators expected the triumph of their team, but their hopes came true only half. The winner of the fencing tournament was the Czechoslovak athlete Adam, who won 48 victories (1034 points). This was the third championship in a row at which he won fencing. The second result was for the little-known American Robert Niman (1017 points), and the third for the Frenchman Joel Bouzou (1000 points). The Hungarian team won the team standings, it was the first and in the sum of two days. The second was the Finns, the third - the pentathletes of Germany, who, following the results of two days, advanced a notch. After two exercises, the US team took third place.

The Soviet team fenced unsuccessfully, for which fair reproaches had to be heard from I. Novikov. Haste, undue risk are the main causes of defeat. Bulgakov, who had chances for the highest place in the pentathlon, did not fulfill his task. He scored 1038 points in this exercise in the open championship of Sweden and took the 2nd place, now he has only 932 points. Ryabikin could not stand the heat of the struggle, who out of the last ten fights won only one and, by the sum of the two types, rolled back to 16th place. Starostin scored 847 points and there were no complaints against him, because he was still very young and his victories were ahead.

The next day, the competition continued in the order that had been accepted as an experiment at the previous UIPMB Congress - the strongest, after two exercises, shoot in the last shift.

Despite the fact that after a long fencing, many did not get enough sleep, the atmosphere in the shooting range was upbeat and quite lively.

As for the athletes, not everyone was able to recover. Adam and Pacelt (192 points each), Ryabikin (188 points) shot below their capabilities, which seriously affected the score balance of the respective teams.

For the relative failures of the past day, Bulgakov rehabilitated himself, knocking out 199 points. With the same result, the Greek Xenakis left the firing line. But Niman became the man of the day. He had a wonderful performance in fencing, and now he knocked out 198 points and, in the sum of three days, became the leader, breaking away from Bulgakov (33 points), Horvat (91) and Marachko (114) closest rivals.

The winners of the Olympic Games in Montreal, Bartu (Czechoslovakia) and Kanchal (Hungary) were knocked out by 195, the Soviet debutant Starostin - 196 points. The Olympic champion Pechak suffered a great loss and gain for several minutes at the same time. The fact is that the judges could not find the trace of one shot, but then everything was resolved, and with the result of 978 credits he finished the shooting competition in tenth, and in the sum of three days he was in 7th place. The pentathletes who played after Pechak were unhappy with the pause associated with the search for the Polish “track”, as it knocked them off the beat and turned into lower results.

In general, the shooting showed a high level of preparation of pentathletes in this form. 29 out of 67 received more than 1000 credits. Among them, besides the ones mentioned: Monev (Bulgaria) and Stamman (Germany) - 1066 each, Masala (Italy), Starnowski (Czechoslovakia), Kineli (Great Britain), Chriotensen (Sweden), Bube (France) - 1044 each, Croatian (Hungary) ), Whiteside (Great Britain), Horvath (Sweden) - 1022 points each.

In the team championship after three types of programs, no noticeable changes occurred. Only the Swedish national team, which, according to the results of two days was in 6th place, had to concede to the French.

The Komedi Swimming Pool resembled a besieged fortress. Again, crowds of people who want to support their team on a crucial day for her. The teams of Hungary, the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany and the USSR fought for prizes, which firmly occupied 4th place after fencing. Before sailing, all applicants scrupulously calculated possible options. The Hungarians thought about how to stay in first place in the team standings and try to squeeze the main rival (Niman) in personal, the Americans - about using the chance to win the coveted gold medals. The FRG team was not going to give up positions, although it was separated from the leader by 142 points. A difficult puzzle faced the coaches of the Soviet team. Starostin’s losses in the show jumping, Bulgakov’s shortage of fencing, Ryabikin’s failure in shooting gave such a head start that taking into account the balance of forces in swimming and running, the only possible goal could be to set the championship for a bronze award.

In swimming, as in shooting, the strongest in the sum of the three species started last. So, Bulgakov (USSR), Horvath, Marachko (Hungary), Hulkonen (Finland), Starnovsky (Czechoslovakia), Niman (USA) ended up in the last race.

Best of all (3 minutes 17.1 seconds) swam Niman. At the Olympics in Montreal, he won in swimming with a result of 3 minutes 13 seconds. Now also turned out to be inaccessible. Having received 1296 points, he further strengthened in the first position. The second result (3 minutes 17.28 seconds) was shown by the Pazelt Pole, the third - by the Swede Christensen, who sailed in 3 minutes 20.94 seconds.

The US team won the voyage, followed by Poland, Great Britain, the USSR, Sweden and France.

According to the results of four days, the Hungarians held the lead, the Americans moved from 3rd place to 2nd, the German team - to 3rd, the Soviet - to 4th.

In the individual championship the list was headed by Niman, the 2nd - Bulgakov, the 3rd - Masala.

Before the track and field cross, Hungary stood still. They were worried by one question: “Yes or no?” The head of the National Pentathlon Federation Ferenc Terek replied: “I don’t know.” The 1970 world champion Peter Kelemen confidently declared: “We will win.” Only one person interviewed by the correspondent of the Nepsprt newspaper gave the correct answer, saying that the gold had sailed away.

Soviet trainers G. Kryukov and L. Matyushenko, calculating the possible results after the cross-country race, understood that there were no miracles, but to win a bronze medal in team competition was a doable task. The USSR national team lagged behind the team of Germany, which occupied the 3rd place, by 114 points. If Starostin neutralizes Kun, Bulgakov will run faster than Shtamman, and Ryabikin will win 40 seconds against Werner, a bronze medal is provided. After the sad setbacks, Soviet athletes found the strength to continue the fight and, at the cost of heroic efforts, ultimately managed to win a bronze award.

Hungarians at home and on the familiar track were not running in the best way. They were ahead of the teams of Poland, the USSR, England, Australia, Italy.

The US team in athletics had the fifth result. Barley won the run, showing a great time - 12 minutes 11.3 seconds. Fitzgerald and Nyman covered the distance in more than 14 minutes.

And yet, the final amount - 15 976 - points brought the team to 1st place. Robert Nyman became the first among the American pentathletes world champion in the individual championship. US athletes have repeatedly been among the strongest, but they have never been able to achieve victory at the Olympic Games and World Championships, and now they have double success. The Hungarian team took 2nd place. Seven points were not enough for the Hungarians to win. But they were happy with the silver prize, because at the last championship they were content with only 5th place.

The silver medalist in the individual competition was Pechak. The Olympic champion almost overtook the American pentathlon. He only had 6 seconds to run.

A significant event was the bronze medal of the Italian Masala. The third step of the podium was the impetus for the future success of this talented pentathlete.

The surprise was the failure of Bart - bronze medal in the individual and silver in the team championship at the Olympic Games in Montreal. He took 40th place. The leader of the Romanian troika Spirlea, a bronze medalist in the team at the World Championships in Moscow, also performed extremely poorly, taking 32nd place.

The championship posed a lot of questions to athletes and coaches. Some thought about how to consolidate success at the upcoming Olympic Games, others - how to avoid mistakes and failures.

Another innovation is connected with the championship in Budapest. The UIPMB Technical Commission made a decision according to which the teams that took the first 12 places are automatically qualified for the Olympic Games in Moscow. So the teams of the USA, Hungary, USSR, Germany, France, Poland, Sweden, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Great Britain were provided with participation in the XXII Olympiad.

• Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM)