Sive Brassil takes on a new World Championships role this week, acting as the steady, experienced veteran of a three-pronged Irish attack in Alexandria.

The 28-year-old will be joined at the UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Championships in Egypt’s second city by the next generation of Irish multisport talent with rookies Hanna D’Aughton and Isobel Radford-Dodd competing alongside Brassil in the Women’s competition, which kicks off Wednesday.

Galway native Brassil is a dab hand at World Championships by now with this week marking her eighth time competing against the best in the world. However D’Aughton and Radford-Dodd, who have both turned 20 in recent months, will be thrust into such elite competition for the first time.

“It’s really great having Isobel and Hanna here,” Brassil said from Alexandria. “There is a great team environment and I think we help each other to relax and enjoy the experience more!

“I am feeling good going into the competition. Training has been going really well so I’m excited to put the work to the test.”

Since making her World Championships debut as a 20-year-old in 2014, Brassil has shown improvement at every next edition of the highlight event of the pentathlon calendar: from 79th in 2014 to 71st to 59th to 46th to 32nd to 28th to finishing 26th at last year’s showpiece in Cairo. Such remarkably consistent growth has Brassil hungry to continue making the step up as she enters her prime years. Her 13th-place finish at the 2022 World Cup event in Budapest in May was a signal of that intent.

“The World Championships is a competition I particularly enjoy. It’s always the toughest competition of the year and the standard is so high,” added Brassil. “I love rising to the occasion. I’m going to get after it this week and give it my best shot at making the last 18. After that, anything is possible.”

Both of her young teammates have continued their impressive development and emergence in 2022. Cork native D’Aughton she finished in the top 30 in her first senior competition at the final of the Hungarian Indoor International in February and followed it up by making her World Cup debut in Budapest.

“I’m really looking forward to competing at my first World Championships,” D’Aughton said. “Being surrounded by top level athletes and a great team is very exciting. The venue is brilliant and can’t wait to get started on Wednesday.

“This year I had my first taste of senior competitions so it’s great to be out here heading to the senior world championships. It’s great in itself to be competing at a senior event like this so the aims are to really get a taste for this level and put all the training into a good competition.”

Radford-Dodd, from Greystones, is a formidable fencer who has continued to develop her all-round skills this year. At the European Junior Championships in Barcelona last month D’Aughton and Radford-Dodd narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s relay, finishing fourth.

It’s been a hectic summer for the trio with the Irish National Championships in late May followed by an intense 10-day training camp in Leiria, Portugal last month. They will hope such work stands to them in Alexandria.

The task for the Irish competitors this week is made all the tougher by the stellar field that has gathered on the Mediterranean coast. All five gold medallists from the UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Cup, including world No.1 Elodie Clouvel of France, Michelle Gulyas of Hungary, Elena Micheli of Italy, Ieva Serapinaite of Lithuania and Great Britain’s Jessica Varley will vie for honours.

This will also be the first World Championships to take place under pentathlon’s New Format, created by UIPM for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It features elimination at each round and just 18 athletes making it to the individual finals this weekend.

The UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Championships are taking place in Alexandria, Egypt from July 24th to 31st. The Women’s Qualification takes place Wednesday, July 27th.

For competition updates visit the UIPM website or download the UIPM Central app.

For more information please contact info@pentathlon.ie.