South Korea’s Jun Woong-tae continued his rise towards the top of the world rankings as he claimed victory in the men’s individual event at the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) World Cup in Rio De Janeiro.
Jun finished the combined section in a time of 11 min 05.21 sec to finish in first place ahead of Egypt’s Omar El Geziry, who was forced to settle for silver, one second adrift of the winning pace.
Adam Marosi of Hungary clinched the final position on the podium as he came through to take bronze.
The result handed Jun, who is the youngest modern pentathlete in the world’s top ten at the age of 20, a superb triumph as he started the combined race with a 25 second deficit, which saw him languishing down in sixth.
The event was also used as a test competition for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“I’m so happy because, after the Champion of Champions, I promised myself that I would be better this year,” said Jun after his victory.
“There is a lot of time between now and August, and I will be preparing very hard in Korea for the Olympic Games.”
Amro El Geziry, brother of the eventual silver medallist, had begun in good form as he was quickest after the swimming section as he clocked 1:57.02.
Maksim Kustov of Russia then surged into the lead after the fencing bonus round, where Hungarians Bence Demeter and Robert Kasza threw themselves into contention with superb performances.
Charles Fernandez of Guatemala, Omar El Geziry, Germany’s Stefan Kollner and Marosi were the only four to produce clean runs in the riding event, while Kustov was able to remain in a good position for gold despite incurring penalty points.
El Geziry went into the combined section with a four second lead over Kustov before Jun made his move and snatched the title in style.
“This men’s individual final was such an exciting competition, and at the end when we saw the changes from first to second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth place, always moving and changing, everybody enjoyed it so much,” UIPM President Klaus Schormann said.
“But I would also underline that the horse riding was a great show, and it showed who was really prepared and who was not.
“It was really an Olympic standard, with everything in harmony between athletes and horses and we saw athletes who are really well educated in riding doing everything in their capacity.
“I would say this World Cup men’s event was successful – better than yesterday on the women’s side in that they had the benefit of the weather – but we all know that for the Olympic Games we will improve some parts.
“In principle we can say it was a good test, it was successful, but we will work on some of the details in the next months so we can have a big show in the Games in August 2016.”
The mixed relay will take place tomorrow to conclude the event.
- By Liam Morgan
- Republished with permission insidethegames.biz