Nathan Schrimsher competes in modern pentathlon at the 2016 UIPM World Cup Final on May 7, 2016 in Sarasota, Fla.
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Competing on home soil in Sarasota, Florida, Nathan Schrimsher closed out the 2016 modern pentathlon world cup season with the best U.S. men’s finish in eight years, placing seventh on Saturday at the UIPM World Cup Final.
Schrimsher scored 1,465 points, only 15 behind gold medalist James Cooke of Great Britain and eight points from a podium finish. The last time a U.S. competitor placed higher was at the 2008 world cup final, when Eli Bremer won the bronze medal and teammate Dennis Bowsher was fourth. Since then, the best result had come from Sam Saksen, who was 11th at the fourth stop of the world cup in 2011.
Ten months ago Schrimsher became the first athlete of any sport to earn a place on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team by virtue of his bronze-medal finish at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games. He will appear in his first Olympic Games after competing at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, where he finished 13th. In March he took the gold medal at the Pan American and South American championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his younger brother Lucas, also an Olympic hopeful, won bronze. Lucas finished 27th at the world cup final in Sarasota.
Raised on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, Nathan is specialist in the U.S. Army and a product of its World Class Athlete Program.
“It’s amazing to be a soldier and compete for the United States,” Schrimsher said after his bronze-medal performance in Toronto. “It’s a big name we wear as athletes and I just want to represent it as best I can.”
