The co-hosted event by both governing bodies was part of an alliance formed between the pair in May, following the controversial approval of obstacle as a replacement for riding as modern pentathlon's fifth discipline.

This was followed by a formal Memorandum of Understanding signed last month, which critics opposed to the replacement of riding by obstacle spearheaded by Pentathlon United claimed represented "the final betrayal".

Competition at the Thor Park Genk featured events in the 15 kilometres standard distance, 3km short course, 100 metres sprint and team race.

Egor Belousov, a Russian athlete competing as a neutral, triumphed in the men's 15km in 1 hour 11min 31.077sec, beating the 1:12:25.582 from Italy's Gian Maria Savani and 1:12:37.475 from Luca Pezzani of Switzerland.

Nicole Mericle of the United States won the women's 15km in 1:18:11.556, beating second-placed Alisa Petrova, a Russian neutral, by more than one minute.

Ida Mathilde Steensgaard of Denmark finished third in the 15km, but triumphed in 23min 01.450sec in the 3km short course, beating Mericle by more than two minutes and third-placed Ulrikke Evensen of Denmark by more than three.

Katarzyna Jonaczyk of Poland clocked 34.14sec to win the women's 100m sprint, beating Filipino duo Precious Cabuya and Kaizen Dela Serna who notched 35.08 and 35.23 respectively.

However, Kevin Pascua denied Poland a double in the 100m, beating Przemysław Jańczuk to gold.

Denmark won the women's 6km national team race in 55:05.921, with Norway second in 55:53.250, and triumphed in 42:40.310 in the men's equivalent.

The OCR World Championships was the second event co-hosted by the UIPM and World Obstacle following on from the Ninja World Cup in the United States.

Obstacle has also featured in the UIPM Junior, Under-19 and Under-17 World Championships.

Long-serving UIPM President Klaus Schormann, who has faced heavy criticism and calls to step down during the move to replace riding with obstacle, has been appointed to chair an Ad-hoc Working Group formalising the UIPM's integration of World Obstacle.

This also includes UIPM vice-president Joël Bouzou, secretary general Shiny Fang and North, Central and Caribbean Confederation of Modern Pentathlon President Rob Stull from the UIPM, and World Obstacle President Ian Adamson, Asia-Pacific Obstacle Sports Federation President Alberto Agra and Pan American Obstacle Sports Federation President Panna Utpaul.

Modern pentathlon appears increasingly likely to have saved its place on the Olympic programme at Los Angeles 2028, despite fears for its place following the horse abuse scandal at Tokyo 2020 and the decision to drop riding which has bitterly divided the sport.