Source:  News Release/Colin McClelland

IRISH TRIO DO BATTLE AT WORLD CUP FINAL IN CHINA THIS WEEKEND

 THREE athletes will represent Ireland at the 2012 Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final this weekend in China. 

For the third year running, Natalya Coyle has qualified for the Women’s competition while Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe and Eanna Bailey will make their debuts in the Men’s competition at Chengdu after impressive results during the 2012 World Cup series, which saw the athletes compete in the USA, Brazil, Hungary and Russia.

Coyle, whose best World Cup finish was in Russia where she finished in 10th position, will be looking to perform well to boost her ranking in the final Olympic qualification competition. 

The 21 year old Co. Meath athlete currently stands in a good position to be on the start line in London 2012 but will not be resting on her laurels as she aims to improve her ranking position to ensure Olympic qualification.

Lanigan-O’Keeffe finished 25th on the World Cup standings after an impressive World Cup series, finishing 25th in the USA, 20th in Brazil and 22nd in Hungary. 

As the highest ranked Junior athlete in the World Cup standings, Lanigan-O’Keeffe will be heading to China with aims of being one of the youngest athletes in the sport to be competing in London come August. Qualification will be tough and he will need to produce something special to make the grade but after such impressive results earlier in the season the Irish youngster will be confident of his abilities to do so.

Bailey’s qualification to the World Cup Final was boosted by his 14th in Russian World Cup – the highest World Cup finish for Irish male athlete to date. He will be heading to China excited about the prospect of competing in his first ever World Cup Final. Bailey has an outside chance of Olympic qualification but he will need be in the hunt for medals to make this a reality.

To have three Irish athletes competing in the World Cup Final in an Olympic year is an incredible achievement for a relatively new High Performance programme and is a huge reflection of how far the athletes have progressed in a short few years.

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