HORSE SPORT IRELAND: COYLE FINISHES TENTH IN WORLD CUP 4

Source: News Release/Colin McClelland (edited)

COYLE FINISHES TENTH IN WORLD CUP 4

IRELAND'S Natalya Coyle finished 10th in the final of Modern Pentathlon's World Cup 4 on Saturday at Rostov in Russia.

Coyle, who began the day in 17th place after the fencing, climbed steadily up the leader board throughout the day’s competition to finish in the top 10; her best result to date.

Coyle's competition began with mixed fortunes in the fencing; scoring some fantastic hits but also losing some equally poor touches. At the end of the phase, the 21 year-old had recorded victories on 17 of her opponents and lost to 18 other athletes. Her pentathlon score of 808 placed her in 17th position.

In the pool, Meath-born Coyle produced a personal best equalling time of 2:19.39 for 1128 pentathlon points and she was the 16th fastest. This moved her two places up the leaderboard to 14th going to the riding event.

Drawing a horse called ‘Tornado’, she had the advantage of watching her horse being ridden in the first round by a German athlete who had just one knockdown. She began her round well but came undone at the treble, taking two fences down. A further mistake from Coyle at the 10 fence resulted in three knockdowns and 60 penalty points off the maximum score possible. Her ride total of 1140 was the 12th best in the competition and saw her climb up the leader board to 12th.

The final run/shoot event is handicapped according to points accumulated in the first three events. Coyle began in 12th position and 40 seconds behind the overall event leader. She produced some superb shooting under pressure, only missing four shots in total and shooting five from five on her last visit to the range. Gutsy running on her last 1 kilometer lap saw her overtake an athlete to cross the line in 10th position.

Coyle shared a few words after crossing the line:
“I’m absolutely delighted with a top 10 finish. Missing out on the final last week made me so determined today and I needed the motivation on the last lap in the run as it hurt so much! I’m really looking forward the World Championship in a couple of weeks in Rome and this will give me a lot of confidence for my performance there.”

After today’s performance, Coyle will have secured her place in the World Cup Final in China at the end of May, which is the last opportunity for athletes to gain Olympic ranking points.

First, she will head to Rome for the World Championships, where again there are valuable ranking points to be claimed. Coyle's top 10 finish today will boost her Olympic ranking significantly but final qualification places will be decided after the competitions in Italy and China.

Fellow Irish athlete Eanna Bailey will be inspired by Coyle's performance as he prepares to contest his first ever Final at World Cup level tomorrow. The 21 year old produced a fantastic run/shoot event in qualifying to move up the leaderboard eight places and secure his place in Sunday final.

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