An outstanding heat in the pool has put modern pentathlete Chloe Esposito into seventh position overall coming in to the final afternoon of competition.
MODERN PENTATHLON: An outstanding heat in the pool has put modern pentathlete Chloe Esposito into seventh position overall coming in to the final afternoon of competition.
Esposito, 24, was the fastest in heat 4, finishing in 2:12:38 – a season best time for the Australian.
She comfortably led from the first turn, edging away from the fastest qualifier of her heat, Ilke Ozyuksel of Turkey.
Her greatest competition came from Japan’s Natsumi Tomonaga who finished three seconds behind in second place.
Leading the overall women’s modern pentathlon ranking is Gulnaz Gubaydullina of Russia on 317 points. Gubaydullina swam the 200m in 2:07:94, setting a new Olympic record.
Esposito has accrued 303 points from swimming event to put her 00:14 seconds behind Gubaydullina, with the yesterday’s fencing points still to be added following today’s fencing bonus round.
The Camden-born pentathlete opened her Rio 2016 campaign with a strong start in fencing yesterday, finishing the round-robin style tournament in 13th position.
She achieved 19 victories and 16 defeats in a classy display of skill and persistence.
Competition continues this afternoon at 2pm (AEST 3am Saturday) with the fencing bonus round before the show jumping and the final combined event, running 3200m and shooting.
More to come.
Candice Keller
olympics.com.au
