HORSE SPORT IRELAND: BAILEY QUALIFIES FOR HIS FIRST WORLD CUP FINAL

Source: News Release/Colin McClelland

BAILEY QUALIFIES FOR HIS FIRST WORLD CUP FINAL

IRELAND'S Eanna Bailey qualified for his first ever modern pentathlon final at World Cup level today (Friday) at Rostov in Russia.

The 21 year old from Swords, County Dublin produced an excellent run/shoot event to move from 20th position to 12th to earn his place in Sunday’s final. There was further success for the Irish team yesterday (Thursday) when Natalya Coyle comfortably made it through the women’s qualification rounds and will contest the Women’s Final tomorrow (Saturday).

Coyle made it three finals from four in the 2012 World Cup series. The 21-year-old athlete from Co. Meath put her disappointment of missing out on qualification at World Cup 3 last week behind her as she produced a most assured performance yesterday.

Starting in fencing, Coyle was on devastating form, scoring hits against 18 of her opponents and loosing to just 10. This placed her in joint second with a score of 936 pentathlon points.

On to the swim and Coyle produced a personal best equalling time of 2:19.47 from 1120 pentathlon points and that moved her to 3rd on the overall leader board. After missing out on the final last week by just one place at the end of the combined run/shoot event, Coyle was determined not to miss out again. After two shoot series and one run lap, Coyle led the field by a decent margin. The third and final shoot was successful negotiated and Coyle left the range in 4th place with an easy last 1km loop to secure her place in the final.

Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe had already qualified for the Finals at the first three world cups in 2012 and was looking four from four while Eanna Bailey had yet to make the cut. Both athletes were seeded in group B which started in the pool. Bailey produced the fastest time of the two Irish athletes of 2:02.84 from 1328 pentathlon points and 3rd place. Lanigan-O’Keeffe placed in 5th with a time of 2:03.77 for 1316 points.

In the fencing Lanigan-O’Keeffe was unable to shake off a slight muscle strain which he has sustained during the fencing last week in World Cup 3. After three fantastic competitions, a precautionary decision was made to withdraw from the competition.

Obviously, Lanigan-O’Keeffe was extremely frustrated and disappointed but in view of the World Championships and the World Cup Final just around the corner the risk couldn’t be taken.

Meanwhile, Bailey, who has struggled with his fencing performances to date, set about scoring six victories and six defeats within the opening few rounds. A new approach to the fencing seemed to be paying dividend for Bailey as he continued to rack up the hits on his opponents. A final tally of 14 victories and 20 defeats gave Bailey 760 points and dropped him just outside the top 18 qualification positions to 20th place on the leader board.

In recent competitions the combined run/shoot event has been where Bailey has been able to make up ground on his opponents. Starting in 20th place and 49 seconds behind the overall leader, Bailey made short work of the one second deficit to the 18th placed athlete and left the shooting range in the top 18 after the first shoot series. Another two excellent shoot series saw him climb up the field to 12th place after the third and final shoot. A trouble free last 1km run saw him cross the finish line in 12th place and secure his place in Sunday’s final.

The Finals for World Cup 4 will be streamed live at: www.pentathlon.org