Kseniya Klimiankova of Belarus wins the women’s under-19 title at the UIPM 2019 Youth World Championships in Sofia ©UIPM/Filip Komorous

Kseniya Klimiankova of Belarus has become the women’s under-19 champion at the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) 2019 Youth World Championships in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

The 17-year-old won by a 10-second margin from Amina Tagirova of Russia, with Yoon Yang-ji of South Korea picking up bronze after holding off Esther Fernandez Donda of Germany by one second.

Tagirova led Russia to team gold in company with Yana Soloveva and Iuliia Sergeeva, with silver going to Germany and bronze to Britain.

Klimiankova finished strongly after an indifferent showing in the opening swimming discipline, where she was ranked 26th of the 36 competing athletes as home hope Svetla Zgurova, the under-17 champion, led with 2min, 14.41sec, ahead of Tagirova, who clocked 2:14.77.

Klimiankova made a move up the leaderboard with the third-best return in the fencing, winning 25 of her 35 contests.

Yoon was the biggest mover in the concluding laser run as she recorded the best time of 12:32.50.

But as other contenders fell away, Klimiankova and Tagirova held their nerve to stay in control of the race.

Egypt added another gold medal to its collection on the penultimate day of the combined age-group competition as Moutaz Mohamed and Abu Bakr Aleadwy won the under-17 men’s relay.

Egypt's Moutaz Mohamed and Abu Bakr Aleadwy won the under-17 men’s relay at the UIPM Youth World Championships in Sofia ©UIPM/Filip Komorous
Egypt's Moutaz Mohamed and Abu Bakr Aleadwy won the under-17 men’s relay at the UIPM Youth World Championships in Sofia ©UIPM/Filip Komorous

Russia duo Denis Zuev and Evgeniy Bobylev secured silver and bronze went to Esau Florido and Mario Medina of Mexico.

Zuev and Bobylev set the pace in the swimming pool with a time of 1:56.90.

But Egypt’s Mohamed and Aleadwy produced the fastest laser run time of 10:59.40, finishing just three seconds clear.

An excellent laser run of 11:02.00 enabled Mexico to make up three places and reach the podium.

Viacheslav Malishev, UIPM Executive Board member for development, said: “Today we saw more evidence of the globalisation of our sporting movement, with four continents represented on the podium at the UIPM 2019 Youth World Championships here in Sofia.

“It was wonderful to see countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America sharing the medals in the under-19 women’s final and the under-17 men’s relay.

“With one day to go, we can already say that this historic competition has been a great success, with two age groups brought together in a spirit of friendly rivalry.”

The Championships conclude with the under-19 men’s final and the under-17 mixed relay.