This year’s four-part World Cup series will debut a new format for all five disciplines, including horse riding, fencing, swimming and run-shoot, that will be broken down into a qualification round, the semi-final round and the final between March 22 and 27 at the American University in Cairo. 

The semi-final sees pentathletes split into two groups of 18 and the top seven from each group, as well as four additional high scorers, will qualify for the final.

This means 18 competitors will compete in the final rather than 36.

The women’s qualification taking place on the opening day and the men’s qualification following on the next day.

The women’s semi-final is expected to be staged on March 24 while the men’s semi-final is anticipated for March 25.

The finals for every discipline - which will be competed within a 90-minute segment - will be held on March 26.

This means every champion will be crowned inside two hours.

The mixed relay takes centre stage on March 27.

Beyond Paris 2024, a new fifth discipline will replace horse riding at Los Angeles 2028, but what that will be is yet to be known.

The pentathletes who record the best three results at the four legs will be considered to make up the 36 men and 36 women participants that will attend the World Cup finals in Turkey between June 23 and 26.

According to the UIPM, the new World Cup’s new format is “designed to create a more compelling spectacle for TV and online viewers - and for on-site audiences like the Olympic Games spectators who will become the first to see all five modern pentathlon disciplines in the space of 90 minutes at Paris 2024”.

The athletes to look out for in Cairo include France’s Rio 2016 silver medallist Élodie Clouvel, two-time world champion Valentin Belaud.

For the hosts, world number seven Ahmed Hamed leads the men’s group with two-time Olympian Haydy Morsy, Amira Kandil and Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic champion Salma Abdelmaksoud participating for the women.

Mohamed Elgendy, the younger brother of Tokyo 202 silver medallist Ahmed, is also taking part.

Exciting talents competing include Turkey’s İlke Özyüksel, Hungary’s Michelle Gulyás, and Czech Republic duo Jan Kuf and .