Farida Khalil: Loving all disciplines
While Obstacle – also known as OCR – is the standout change, the whole sport has had a makeover. Competition used to take place over several days, before eventually being reduced to a single day.
Now, everything is over in about 90 minutes, with athletes transitioning quickly from fencing, to the obstacle course, and finally the laser-run combination of shooting and running.
“I love all of them. I feel like all disciplines are fast, tactical, and every bout feels like a new puzzle,” says Kahlil. “The most challenging part for me is breaking records, but that just motivates me to keep improving.”
That inner drive paid off as she set the overall points World Record at the World Cup in Bulgaria in May. Kaunas marks the chance for her to hit even greater heights, and her way to gold has been cleared further by the absence of Olympic champion Michelle Gulyas of Hungary.
Gulyas was the only athlete to defeat Khalil in this season’s World Cup. “That silver medal taught me a lot,” says Khalil.
“To stand next to an Olympic champion on the podium at my age was already a victory, but it also reminded me that there’s still a lot of work to do. I went back home even hungrier to improve.”
That hunger extends across an Egyptian team that is making history in the sport, with men’s number one Moutaz Mohamed and Olympic champion Ahmed Elgendy.