Overview

Modern pentathlon tests athletes across five separate disciplines. Athletes must swim, fence, ride an unfamiliar horse through a show jumping course – they get just 20 minutes to get acquainted – and finally a foot race, which includes stops to take aim at targets with pistols which emit a laser beam when pulling the trigger.

72 athletes (36 men, 36 women) will compete in the men's and women's individual event competitions, respectively, with no more than two athletes per National Olympic Committee (NOC).

Here's a breakdown of the modern pentathlon events:

• Riding: A show jumping course that features 15 jumps over 12 obstacles on an unfamiliar horse that the athlete is allocated in a random draw just 20 minutes before they compete
• Fencing:
  • Ranking Round: A round-robin tournament in which all 36 athletes compete against each other in one-touch epee bouts. Each lasts for one minute or until the first touch (the first day of competition only)
  • Bonus Round: An elimination tournament featuring 30-second bouts (or until the first touch), seeded by results of the ranking round. The athletes will continue to compete as long as they keep winning.
• Swimming: A 200m freestyle event, with athletes seeded into heats based on their world rankings
• Running and Shooting: A laser run in which the athletes alternate between running and shooting a laser pistol along a 3km course, with the athletes stopping four times throughout the run to shoot at five targets from a distance of 10 meters

What's changed from Tokyo

For the 2024 Paris Games, a compressed competition timetable will be followed. All five disciplines will be contested within two hours (90 minutes of total competition with 30 minutes of total break time) for the semifinals and finals, instead of three hours of competition spread across mroe than five and a half hours. The other big change from the Tokyo Games is that the competition will now take place over three days instead of two, with a semifinal elimination round being added between the fencing ranking round and final. Only the top nine athletes per semifinal (for a total of 18) will advance to their respective finals. 

The order of events has also changed for Paris. The riding competition will now be first, followed by the fencing bonus round, the swimming discipline, and finally the laser run. This change occurred due to refusals by horses randomly assigned affecting the standings. Paris will be the last Olympics where the equestrian discipline will be competed. It will be replaced by an obstacle discipline moving forward.

When to watch modern pentathlon during the 2024 Paris Olympics

The action in Paris begins on Thursday, August 8 and concludes on Sunday, August 11.

After the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, a new fifth discipline is expected to replace the riding portion of modern pentathlon.  The sports governing body, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne, has been testing and could vote to officially add an obstacle course portion to the event as a new discipline.

Venue

The riding, swimming, running and shooting and fencing (bonus round) portions of the modern pentathlon will be held in a most regal setting, on the grounds of the Château de Versailles. The fencing ranking rounds will take place at the National Velodrome Venues for the remaining events in the modern pentathlon Olympic program have not been announced.

A rendering of the Château de Versailles set up for the equestrian and modern pentathlon competitions at the Paris Olympics.

Paris 2024

Jess Savner is the only U.S. modern pentathlete to have qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Savner is a 32-year-old Bethlehem, Connecticut, native who is about to embark on her first Olympics.

Savner's multi-faceted athleticism stems from her family. Her mother is a former equestrian athlete and father is a former triathlete who competed in Ironman Kona. Savner is a four-time member of the world championship team and was part of the U.S. mixed relay team that finished eighth in 2023.