MODERN PENTATHLON: Australian modern pentathlon siblings, Max and Chloe Esposito, will look to finish their tremendous season on a high at the World Championships which run from Wednesday to Sunday in Berlin, Germany.
The third Australian competitor is London 2012 Olympian Ed Fernon. The experienced Fernon, 27, will also be looking for a season best performance by reaching the final - top 36.
It is an historic occasion as it is the 50th anniversary of the World Championships in Berlin and it will be held at Olympic Park. This is fitting as Max and Chloe have been creating their own history this season.
After strong form in World Cups in May they became the first athletes named on the 2016 Australian Olympic Team after claiming the Oceania spot at the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifier in Beijing in early June.
Max stole the show in China, aged just 17, to win the title ahead of Olympic medallists. Chloe who was seventh at the London Olympic Games, also had a superb competition to finish fourth and book her place for Rio 2016.
Two weeks later at the World Cup final in Minsk, Belarus it was Chloe who had the breakthrough. The 23-year-old, who has battled serious injuries since the London Olympics, stormed home in the Combined event (running/shooting) to claim the bronze.
To ensure his sister didn’t get all the spotlight at the World Cup final Max was the fastest competitor in the final discipline to move up to 14th out of the 36 competitors - of which he was the youngest.
At the World Championships both athletes will need to progress through qualification before medals are decided.
Chloe is ranked 8th on the world rankings and Max is ranked 22nd.
All season it has been the first discipline of Fencing which has been their weakest. They have then moved up the places in the swimming (200m freestyle), rode near perfect rounds in Jumping – on a horse they have never ridden before – and then in the final Combined event have shown they are capable of anything to jump further up the leaderboard.
Max, now 18, will contest the three group qualification on Wednesday 1 July and Chloe will do the same on Thursday 2 July. The first group will commence fencing at 0800 (local time) which the athletes to progress to the finals known by around 1730 (0130 +1day AEST).
The Men’s Final will be held on Friday and the Women’s Final on Saturday. All going well Max and Chloe are entered for the Mixed Relay competition on Sunday.
The pair are scheduled to then travel back to Australia for some testing at the AIS and a well-deserved break.
The decision to move to Budapest, Hungary at the end of 2013 with their Olympian coach and father Daniel and their mother has proved to be a fantastic decision.
When in Australia they are based in Casula in Sydney’s south-west.
Andrew Reid
olympics.com.au
