With its presence at the Los Angeles 2028 Games now assured, since the IOC session in Mumbai in mid-October, the modern pentathlon has been looking to its future. With one priority: to review the format of the fencing event. The discipline’s international body, the UIPM, has just set up a working group to “discuss and analyze the various options” for fencing at the Los Angeles 2028 Games. Unlike Paris 2024, fencing will take place in its entirety at the modern pentathlon venue in 2028, without the need to first use a covered facility for the classification round. The group comprises six Olympians, plus one athlete already qualified for the Paris 2024 Games. It is chaired by Mexico’s Ivar Sisniega, who is also President of the UIPM Innovation Commission, former Mexican Minister of Sports and current President of the Mexican Football Federation. The UIPM working group also includes marketing consultant Tom Shepard and fencing expert Gary Lu, both from the USA.
