MODERN PENTATHLON: The Youth Olympic Games Modern Pentathlon competition is well and truly underway here in Nanjing, China.
Day 6 of the second Summer Youth Olympic Games saw all 48 young athletes from 30 countries fence against every other competitor in their boy's or girl's tournament (24 athletes per gender). Athletes had 60 seconds to record one hit over their opponent anywhere on the body.
The results of this ranking round help athletes when they fence again tomorrow in a ladder format. The ladder starts with the bottom two ranked athletes from today facing off in a knockout format. The winner stays on and climbs the ladder, facing a tougher competitor in each bout.
Points are then awarded to contribute to athlete’s overall scores in the Modern Pentathlon- which also involves a 200m freestyle swim and a combined running/ shooting event.
Women’s Event:
In the women’s fencing ranking round today, Australian Marina Carrier recorded wins over Yana Polishchuk (UKR), Ilke Ozyuksel (TUR), Aurelika Tamasauskaite (LTU), Valeriia Uvarova (KZG), Anna Zs.Toth (HUN) and Iryna Prasiantsova (BLR).
Her six wins saw her finish 22nd in the field, a result she was satisfied with after enjoying her first day of competition in the Australian Youth Olympic Team uniform.
“It was awesome to wear the stars- I love the stars,” Carrier said of the Southern Cross adorning her white fencing suit.
“The fence is probably my weakest event, but I’m really happy with how today went and hopefully in the ladder round tomorrow I can get some more hits on some people- poke them a bit more,” she said with a smile.
Carrier came close against number one competitor, Kali Frances Sayers (CAN) and recorded a win over medal contender, Yana Polishchuk (UKR).
“Some of them have been fencing for eight years so it was great for me to be able to get more than two hits.
“Tomorrow should be interesting. It’s a knockout, so it’s a bit scary. I’ve never done it this way- actually, not a lot of people have done it this way before so it’s completely new and it should be good to watch."
With six pistes in action at all times, Carrier was paired with Argentinean Ailen Cisneros today. After facing off in the opening bout, Cisneros and Carrier spurred one another on as contestants came to meet them on Piste A- what the Olympic spirit is all about.
“It’s always a bit more fun when you have a partner that you can cheer on and give them a high five- otherwise it’s too serious, I like having fun.”
Men's Event:
In the men’s fencing ranking round, Australian Max Esposito recorded wins over Radion Khripchenko (KGZ), Nikita Bistrovs (LAT), Bartosz Stanisl Hoffmann (POL), Anton Kuznetsov (UKR) , Berengerth Sequera (VEN), Gustav Gustenau (AUT) and Joan Gispert Torras (ESP).
His seven wins of a possible 23, saw him finish 20th with 178 points, 88 points behind Yavor Peshleevski from Bulgaria in first place.
“Not the best, I knew I could have fenced better but I don’t know what was going on,” the 17-year-old said.
“I have fenced all these guys before so I sort of knew what to expect and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but today it was hard.”
With competition resuming on Sunday for the men’s individual event, Esposito says he hopes he can turn it around and put in a better performance.
“Hopefully I can at least gain a couple of points in the [fencing] round robin and also the swim and the run,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to the combined run shoot and the swim. I feel pretty good with my swim but I know I’m not going to reach the top but I think I can gain a couple of points there, fingers crossed but I hope so.”
Taya Conomos and Laura Judd
olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam
