(Reuters) – USA Pentathlon Managing Director Rob Stull narrowly edged out rival candidate Sharif El Erian from Egypt to get elected as the president of the sport’s global governing body (UIPM) on Saturday.

The 64-year-old Stull, a four-time Olympian, will become the second American to lead the federation as he succeeds Germany’s Klaus Schormann in the role.

“We have to get to work immediately because Paris 2024 has been phenomenal for modern pentathlon. The bar has been raised and we have to meet it,” Stull said in a statement.

France’s Joel Bouzou was eliminated in the first round of voting before Stull eventually defeated El Erian following two more rounds of voting at the 73rd UIPM Congress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City)

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