The U.S. Pentathlon Team had a double dose of success on Thursday during the women's qualification round at Modern Pentathlon's World Cup #4 in Rostov, Russia. Two American competitors, Mickey Kelly (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Rendy Opdycke (Los Angeles, Calif.), both finished seventh in their respective qualification groups and earned berths in Saturday's final round which gives them a chance to earn valuable ranking points toward the World Cup Final.
Kelly totaled 3,968 points on the day. She was 10th in her group in the fencing event with 15 victories, winning eight of her final nine bouts. She placed 22nd in the swim with a time of 2:26.53, and finished with a strong seventh-place showing in the combined run/shoot, crossing the line in 12:17.07, which moved her from 15th place to seventh in the final overall standings.
Opdycke posted her best fencing score ever (840), winning nine of her first 10 bouts, and placed seventh in the fencing competition, also with 15 wins. She turned in the fourth-fastest swim time (2:14.49) and placed 17th in the combined event with a time of 13:05.48 to give her 3,888 total points and qualify her for her first-ever World Cup final round.
The third member of the U.S. team, Samantha Achterberg (Littleton, Colo.), finished 25th in her group with 3,552 points and did not advance to Saturday's final.
The men's qualification round takes place on Friday and will feature U.S. competitors Dennis Bowsher (Dallas, Texas), Sam Sacksen (Somerset, Pa.), Eli Bremer (Monument, Colo.) and Will Brady (Howell, Mich.).
Fans around the world will have the chance to watch these and other great athletes live and share in the excitement of Modern Pentathlon. UIPM will broadcast the finals live on Pentathlon TV at pentathlon.org on 21-22 April 2012. The broadcast will feature the ride, combined event and medal ceremony live and highlights of the fencing and swimming.
The Russian World Cup is the fourth in a series of five events in the coming two months which will culminate in the World Cup final to be held in Chengdu, China on 26-27 May 2012.
Competition Schedule:
19 April - Women's Qualification Competition
20 April - Men's Qualification Competition
21 April - Women's Individual Finals
22 April - Men's Individual Finals
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