UIPM 2018 Pentathlon World Championships: Prokopenko on top of the world at last

Thirteen years after winning her first international gold, Anastasiya Prokopenko of Belarus enjoyed the crowning glory of her career as she became world champion for the first time.

She has had a glittering career, but until now victory in the Women’s Individual Final at the UIPM Pentathlon World Championships had eluded Prokopenko (BLR), who turns 33 next week and has two children.

Last year she won her first individual medal, a bronze, and this time nobody was going to come between her and the top of the podium.

She will turn 33 next week, but now Prokopenko (BLR) looks more than ever like a contender for the biggest prize in the sport when the Olympic Games take place in Tokyo in 2020.

She won her first gold in the UIPM Pentathlon World Cup way back in 2005, and twice she has finished in the top six at the Olympic Games. In 2017 she announced her return to the top with a gold medal at the European Championships and a bronze at the World Championships.

In Mexico City, she had already scaled the top of the podium once, winning Women’s Relay gold on the opening day with Belarus team-mate Iryna Prasiantsova.

After becoming the first person to win an individual world title in a Pentathlon Stadium, where all five disciplines take place in one venue, Prokopenko (BLR) said: “It’s a good job, because in my heart I believed it but, looking at my starting number, I didn’t believe it.

“It’s fantastic. My shooting was fantastic and my running was very, very fast … and I believed it. I believed it. It’s life!

“I didn’t see Annika, I only looked at my target and my shooting, and when I left the range I thought ‘what? I’m first? No!

“It was my day, and I just ran and ran. It’s my first World Championships gold medal.”

Information: https://www.uipmworld.org/news/uipm-2018-pentathlon-world-championships-prokopenko-blr-top-world-las...