The schoolgirl who became world champion at 14

Farida Khalil is not your average teenager.

Last year, aged just 14, the Egyptian won every major world title in modern pentathlon - from three youth grades to the women's senior championship - in the same season.

The sport's world governing body, UIPM, described it as "unprecedented" and quickly dubbed it the 'Farida Slam'., external.

Her devotion to a sport consisting of fencing, swimming, an obstacle race, running,g and shooting is most striking in the commitment to her training routine.

"I love that difference, that I'm not going to stay fixed [on one discipline]," Khalil tells BBC Arabic.

With her dad as head coach, the teenager's sporting success has become a family endeavour.

"Raising a champion in your home, a world champion, is not easy at all," Mohamed Abu Hashem, Khalil's father, explains.

"It's not about luck. It is persistence, years of effort, endurance,e and big sacrifices."

The sun has barely risen over Cairo by the time Khalil starts her day at 5 am, with her morning schedule a gruelling endurance test all of its own.

"Swimming is from five to seven, running starts from eight thirty to around ten thirty,y and we keep going like that," she says.

Khalil, who turned 15 in February, can spend up to 14 hours a day training, with a break for lunch and tutoring.

Her school is in a neighbourhood just north of the capital, but with such a tight schedule, she does not attend every day.

When she does go to class, her fame often precedes her.

"My friends at school are always proud that they are walking around with a world champion - walking with the youngest girl to become world number one."

A 'dynamic' change

Khalil sits at the top of the UIPM's women's world rankings, and becoming modern pentathlon's new star has played a part in turning around the fortunes of a sport that was under growing scrutiny.

More importantly, it was the replacement of one of its five disciplines that ultimately saved modern pentathlon from being dropped from the 2028 Olympic programme.

UIPM opted to replace show jumping in November 2021 after a video had emerged earlier that year of a German coach appearing to punch a horse that refused to jump during the Tokyo Olympics.

Show jumping was kept for the Paris 2024 Games, but Khalil's astounding victory at the 2025 World Championships in Lithuania came in the revamped version of modern pentathlon, which now includes an obstacle race.

Khalil says the new event brings a "fresh energy" and makes the sport "even more dynamic" for spectators.

"I love the idea that our sport is evolving and becoming more appealing to young athletes like me," she told Olympics.com

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Building a dream

It is at the El Shams Sporting Club that Khalil nurtures her talent under the watchful gaze of her father, with fellow young athletes jogging on a strip of green lawn lined with palm trees.

Along with running leggings and sunglasses, she wears a black Team Egypt T-shirt emblazoned with a golden sketch of Horus, the Egyptian god of the sky, who had a falcon's head, a fitting symbol of power and royalty.

Tackling an obstacle course, Khalil also takes to the sky by springing off a ridged metal platform before catching one of the metal bars of an overhead ladder with her left hand. Hanging mid-air, she quickly works her way, hand by hand, across to the other side.

"The schedule for Farida is very strong," Abu Hashem says.

"We are building a big dream, so every minute has to count. This spirit is what makes Farida different from others all over the world."

Khalil began competing in youth championships in 2021 and, as victories came easily, quickly moved to senior events.

"We found we were winning with very competitive scores," Abu Hashem explains.

"I started calculating the world records and found that Farida can break them very easily."

He and his daughter are now targeting a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years, where Egypt could continue an impressive run of success.

A burgeoning powerhouse

The North African country first made its mark in modern pentathlon at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, where Ahmed Elgendy and Salma Abdelmaksoud won individual golds in the male and female events, respectively.

Elgendy went on to claim silver at Tokyo 2020, securing Egypt's first senior Olympic medal in the sport, before going one better at Paris 2024 when he topped the podium with a world record score.

Moutaz Mohamed then became Africa's first individual world champion last August, just a couple of hours before Khalil secured her own landmark title.

"Egypt has become a powerhouse in this sport," Sherif El Erian, president of the Egyptian Modern Pentathlon Federation (EMPF) and a vice president of UIPM, tells the BBC.

"This has come through years and years of hard work. It's like all of Egypt is training."

Khalil's achievements have further boosted the EMPF's confidence, and Cairo will host the World Championships in 2028, with the event also serving as an Olympic qualifier.

At the end of another intense day of training, Khalil reflects on the impact she has had.

"A lot of people, in pentathlon and outside pentathlon, want advice," she says.

In 2023, the United Nations Children's Fund named her a Shabab Balad (youth of the country) champion, describing her as "a true inspiration and source of pride".

"I am very happy when I see someone who wants to do what I did," she adds.

"Of course, I help them. I help everyone who needs advice."