Swapping horses for ninja warriors: The Olympic sport undergoing massive change

Courtesy UIPM World Pentathlon

Several Olympic sports have evolved over the years to keep up with an ever-changing landscape, but few have been as drastic as the Modern Pentathlon.

Ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 , the ancient sport has modernized yet again – in a way you might not expect.

Until recently, the event consisted of the following five disciplines: fencing, horse riding, swimming, shooting and running.

But in recent years, the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) has looked to overhaul the sport’s image, injecting youth and greater accessibility into a sport which has roots in Ancient Greece.

The headline from all the changes is the decision to drop horse riding and replace it with obstacle racing – Ninja Warrior style.

“While yes, we are a sport with more than a century of Olympic heritage, our recent innovations have made us more vibrant, more accessible and more relevant – ready to connect with new generations,” UIPM President Rob Stull said in a press release .

“I like to say that we are one of the ‘cool kids in LA.’”

Obstacle racing will still be accompanied by swimming and fencing, with the final discipline being a combination of running and laser shooting (a slight modernization in itself).

Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

And while not everyone has been happy with such a major shift, notably all those pentathletes who spent years honing their equestrian skills, the sport deemed it a necessary disturbance in order to maintain its status as an Olympic event.

As a result of the change, obstacle racing now operates under the UIPM umbrella and holds its own specific championships. That’s attracted a host of new athletes to Modern Pentathlon – or, in the case of the Beckstrands, an entire family.

Based out of Utah, brothers Kai and Luke Beckstrand are two of the best obstacle runners in the world. They sprang to prominence on the television show American Ninja Warrior and have since become the face of the Modern Pentathlon’s attempted glow-up.

Both have been immersed in the sport since they first learned to walk and were introduced to obstacles by their parents. The family now runs an obstacle gym that allows the brothers to train whenever they want.

They now spend up to six hours a day honing their craft.

“We already have that skill when it comes to getting on the obstacles. It’s now become about training those transition points and how we can be as efficient as possible getting from obstacle to obstacle, not necessarily the obstacle itself,” Kai, 20, tells CNN Sports over video call while explaining how training with his younger brother allows them both to push each other to new levels.

“We do a lot of weightlifting, plyometric-style explosive movements and rock climbing to, kind of, just keep our grip strength good.”

Attributes, it’s fair to say, that are quite different from those needed to excel in equestrian.

That’s very much the issue facing existing modern pentathletes who have had to quickly learn how to excel across the obstacles. It’s perhaps unsurprising that such a big change did not go down well with everyone.

“People say you are making modern pentathlon modern again, but you can’t make that argument when sports like archery are still in the Olympics,” British athlete Joe Choong said back in 2024 . “We will still have a sport called modern pentathlon, but it is not the real one.”

But while the sport’s new look will take some getting used to, organizers believe the changes will be worth the obvious issues they create if it repositions itself as a younger and sharper Olympic event.

And for the brothers, the collaboration is also a chance to promote obstacle racing and their passion for the discipline – essentially piggybacking on Modern Pentathlon’s long history and established audience.

“The hope for us is to get it as its own discipline, so that we can compete in the Olympics as well,” Kai says.

“But if we can get more eyes from the American Ninja Warrior TV show, that may not even know what the Modern Pentathlon is, that’s going to get more eyes on it. I think it’s a little more exciting than the horse jumping.

“With the obstacles, you’re not reliant on your horse. You’re reliant on your own abilities. Coming into this competition, it’s solely based on your performance now.”

However, the brothers – and other obstacle athletes – share a similar problem with those legacy modern pentathletes.

Heading into LA 2028, neither believes they have the skills to compete in the other four disciplines, making the Olympics a distant dream… for now.

“I think I’ve definitely thought of [training for the Olympics], but when we went to go try swimming, try those other disciplines, we weren’t the greatest,” Luke Beckstrand, 18, says while sitting next to his brother

“I know we’ll get better as we train, but I just think we are really busy with our schedules and more focused on the obstacle portion of the pentathlon.”

His older brother, Kai, has similar thoughts while also balancing his current training with work as a firefighter.

“We’re just, kind of, in a position right now where we don’t have anywhere to train those other disciplines,” the 20-year-old said.

So while the sport is trying something different in order to survive in an ever-changing Olympic landscape, it’s by no means going to be a guaranteed success overnight.

The talent gap that now exists across the sport needs time to close while athletes come to terms with a very different discipline.

It should, though, make for interesting viewing when the LA Olympics roll around in 2028.

承蒙国际现代五项联盟世界现代五项赛惠允

多年来，一些奥运项目为了适应不断变化的环境而不断发展，但很少有项目像现代五项那样发生如此巨大的变化。

在 2028 年洛杉矶奥运会到来之际，这项古老的运动再次实现了现代化——以一种你可能意想不到的方式。

直到最近，这项赛事还包括以下五个项目：击剑、骑马、游泳、射击和跑步。

但近年来，国际现代五项联盟（UIPM）致力于改变这项运动的形象，为这项起源于古希腊的运动注入年轻活力和更高的参与度。

所有变化中最引人注目的是，决定取消骑马比赛，代之以障碍赛——忍者勇士风格。

“虽然我们这项运动拥有超过一个世纪的奥运传统，但我们近期的创新使我们更具活力、更易于参与、更具相关性——准备好与新一代建立联系，”国际体操联合会主席罗布·斯图尔在一份新闻稿中表示。

“我喜欢说我们是洛杉矶的‘酷小孩’之一。”

障碍赛仍将与游泳和击剑相结合，最后一个项目是跑步和激光射击（这本身就是一项略微现代化的举措）。

张林涛/Getty Images

虽然并非所有人都乐见这种重大改变，尤其是那些花费多年时间磨练马术技能的五项全能运动员，但这项运动认为这是必要的变革，以维持其作为奥运会项目的地位。

由于这项变革，障碍赛现在归国际现代五项联盟（UIPM）管辖，并举办自己的专属锦标赛。这吸引了众多新运动员加入现代五项——或者像贝克斯特兰德一家那样，吸引了整个家庭。

来自犹他州的兄弟凯·贝克斯特兰德和卢克·贝克斯特兰德是世界上最优秀的障碍赛跑运动员之二。他们因参加电视节目《美国忍者勇士》而声名鹊起，此后成为现代五项运动复兴的代表人物。

兄弟俩从学会走路起就接触这项运动，父母也带他们接触障碍赛。如今，他们家经营着一家障碍训练馆，兄弟俩可以随时去那里训练。

他们现在每天要花多达六个小时来磨练技艺。

“我们已经具备了跨越障碍物的技巧。现在的重点在于训练过渡点，以及如何尽可能高效地从一个障碍物过渡到另一个障碍物，而不是障碍物本身，”20岁的凯在接受CNN体育视频通话采访时解释说，与弟弟一起训练让他们能够互相激励，共同进步。

“我们经常进行举重、增强式爆发力训练和攀岩，目的就是为了保持良好的握力。”

可以公平地说，这些特质与在马术运动中取得优异成绩所需的特质截然不同。

这正是现代五项全能运动员面临的一大难题，他们必须迅速学会如何在障碍赛中脱颖而出。如此巨大的改变并非人人都能接受，这或许并不令人意外。

“人们说你们让现代五项运动重新焕发活力，但像射箭这样的项目仍然在奥运会上，这种说法就站不住脚了，”英国运动员乔·钟在2024年说道。“我们仍然会有一项叫做现代五项的运动，但它并不是真正的现代五项。”

虽然这项运动的新面貌需要一段时间才能适应，但组织者认为，如果这项运动能够重新定位为一项更年轻、更具竞争力的奥运项目，那么这些改变所带来的显而易见的问题将是值得的。

对于这对兄弟来说，这次合作也是一个推广障碍赛和他们对这项运动的热情的机会——本质上是借助现代五项运动悠久的历史和已建立的受众群体。

“我们希望它能成为一个独立的项目，这样我们也能参加奥运会，”凯说。

“但如果我们能通过《美国忍者勇士》电视节目吸引更多观众，即使他们可能根本不知道现代五项是什么，那也会给这项运动带来更多关注。我认为它比马术障碍赛更精彩一些。”

“面对障碍赛，你不能依赖你的马，而要依靠你自己的能力。参加这场比赛，最终结果完全取决于你现在的表现。”

然而，这对兄弟——以及其他障碍赛运动员——与那些传统现代五项全能运动员有着相似的问题。

展望 2028 年洛杉矶奥运会，他们两人都不认为自己有能力在其他四个项目中竞争，因此奥运会对他们来说仍然是一个遥远的梦想……至少目前如此。

“我确实考虑过（参加奥运会训练），但当我们去尝试游泳和其他项目时，我们表现得并不出色，”18岁的卢克·贝克斯特兰德坐在他哥哥旁边说道。

“我知道随着训练的进行我们会进步，但我认为我们现在的日程安排非常繁忙，而且我们更专注于五项全能的障碍赛部分。”

他的哥哥凯也有类似的想法，同时也在平衡目前的训练和消防员的工作。

这位20岁的年轻人说：“我们现在的情况是，我们没有地方来训练其他那些项目。”

因此，尽管这项运动正在尝试一些不同的方法来适应不断变化的奥运环境，但这绝不意味着它一夜之间就能获得成功。

目前这项运动中存在的才能差距需要时间来弥合，运动员们也需要时间来适应这项截然不同的运动。

不过，等到 2028 年洛杉矶奥运会举办的时候，应该会很有看头。