Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne

Modern Pentathlon became an Olympic sport at Stockholm 1912, with a single men’s individual event. Prior to the creation of an international governing body for the sport, modern pentathlon was administered directly by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) was founded on 13 August 1948, with the inaugural UIPM World Championships held the following year, with Stockholm again as the historic first venue. From 1953 on, modern pentathlon and the sport of biathlon would be governed together, and the organization actually changed its name to the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (UIPMB) in 1968. This was the only time that an international federation governed sports on both the Summer and Winter Olympic Programmes.

Women were admitted for the first time at the UIPM World Championships in 1977, but on a trial basis. The first UIPM Women’s World Championships would take place in London, Great Britain, in 1981, separate from the men’s event (which took place in Poland that year).

Despite staying together as UIPMB, in 1993, the federation split into two separate groups to allow biathlon to act autonomously. The UIPM Women’s World Championships then ceased to exist in 1997, 16 years after its introduction, and men and women joined forces to create a single World Championships. Since 20 August 1998, modern pentathlon and biathlon are governed separately, with modern pentathlon returning to the UIPM, and the new International Biathlon Union (IBU) governing biathlon.

At Sydney 2000, women were finally allowed to compete in the sport at the Olympics. The sport has also been part of the Youth Summer Olympics programme since the competition’s inception at Singapore 2010, with boys, girls, and mixed events.

Besides modern pentathlon, the UIPM also governs the non-Olympic disciplines of Laser Run, Obstacle, Obstacle Laser Run, Tetrathlon, Triathle, Biathle, and Para-Pentathlon. Among these, Laser Run has had the most highlight in more recent years, as the simple new concept of run/shoot as a standalone sport allows cities to host UIPM events as well as at rural and stadium venues, and it offers a new route into the sport for athletes from developing nations worldwide. The first UIPM Laser Run World Championships were held in 2015, in Perpignan, France.

Although the sport has never appeared at the Paralympics, its governance of Para-Pentathlon has led to the UIPM becoming an International Paralympic Committee (IPC)-recognized federation.

Former Olympian Rob Stull of the United States was elected by the UIPM Congress in 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to serve as the federation’s President. The UIPM has 131 member federations as of January 2026, and its headquarters is located in Monaco.