Charlotte, USA 10 March 2012: Lena Schoneborn (GER) has produced a near perfect day to clinch the first gold of the year at World Cup #1 in Charlotte, USA.
Schoneborn, the Olympic Champion, and World #1 who is making winning World Cups a habit stated: “I am very relieved that I got through the first competition of the year.
I love coming to the USA, so I am excited to win this medal in front of the American crowd. I had a hard winter training in Colorado Springs which certainly helped.
Winning the fence set me up great for the rest of the day and I rode that momentum. Mhairi pushed me hard in the run, my quick last shoot made all the difference.”
Spence, who matched her silver medal performance from World Cup #1 last year said: “I am really happy and overwhelmed, I had a good day and it was nice to finish well and kept it all together. In 2011 I had a break through year, but I knew I could improve, so I went away in the off season and worked on a lot of little things and it has paid off.”
The pocket rocket from Belarus, Prokopenko broke 2 world records on her way to the bronze medal. The mother of one shot her final 5 shots in 9.3 seconds to break the single shoot world record and shot her 15 shots in a staggering 30.4 seconds to be the fastest Pentathlon shooter (men or women) on the planet. “I can’t believe I shot that fast” said the Belarusian who recovered from a disappointing 33rd in the swim to win the bronze. “At the start of the combined event I thought I had no chance, I was very relaxed and just shot and ran and thankfully it worked.”
The surprise of the event was Chloe Esposito (AUS) who finished 5th which is a fantastic achievement in only her 5th World Cup. “I am in shock” said the Oceanian Champion. “I have trained extremely hard, but never thought I would finish this high. I now want to keep this up until the London Olympics.”
World #3 Laura Asadauskaite (LTU) grabbed 4th and the British pair of Samantha Murray and Heather Fell finished 6th and 7th respectively to cap off a brilliant day for Great Britain.
All these athletes now head down to Rio de Janeiro for World Cup #2 next week, but before that is the Men’s Final tomorrow. Follow all the live results on Pentathlon.org.
PENTATHLON IN THE ANCIENT GAMES
708 BC – Lampis of Sparta won the first ancient Pentathlon
MODERN PENTATHLON
1912 – Stockholm: First time in the Olympic Programme
1948 – London: UIPM was born
1996 – Atlanta: First time all 5 events competed in one day at Olympics
1998 – Budapest, Mexico, Monaco, Olympia and Lausanne:
UIPM 50 Years Anniversary
2000 – Sydney: First time for women in the Olympic Programme
2004 – Athens: Pentathlon home after 2712 years
2010 – Singapore: First ever Youth Olympic Games
2012 – London: 100 Years of Modern Pentathlon in the Olympic Games
2012 – Centenary Congress – Buenos Aries, Argentina
