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| Tuesday, May 26 2009 - WORLD CUP RELAY BRONZE MEDAL FOR DONNA VAKALIS World Cup (3), Hungary |
Organized by the Hungarian federation and hosted in the town of Szekesfehervar on May 14 to 17, some of the world's top modern pentathletes competed in this third World Cup event. Canadians Monica Pinette (Langley, BC), Kara Grant (Stratford, PEI) and Donna Vakalis (Toronto, ON) tested their mettle against some of the world`s best! The highlights of the competition were Donna's bronze medal in the relay event as well as Monica's 20th place finish in the individual event, which is the top individual finish of the year so far in world cup competition by any Canadian.
“ In this first podium performance of the season for Canada, Donna was a strong member of the relay, performing solidly in one of her first combined events ever. In the individual she also had her best lifetime swim time for the long course,” said National Team Coach John Hawes. “These performances, along with all other team members’ achievements, indicate that Canada is moving in the right direction. Our athletes gained valuable experience training and competing in the new format and sharing knowledge. Training and competing in the new format is a process that everyone in the world of pentathlon is undergoing. The challenge faced by everyone in the sport will be to try to do this effectively and quickly against the rest of the field.”
From a report by Donna Vakalis
``I heard from other experienced athletes that this World Cup would be a well-run and high-caliber competition. They were right: many
of the world's top women pentathletes competed, making it an exciting and challenging World Cup competition.
It was plain to see that different countries are trying very different strategies for the new combined run-shoot portion of the competition
---and there is no one dominant style, making it a very interesting event to witness. When I was watching my teammate Monica Pinette compete in the final, I was able to observe almost as many different approaches to the new shoot-run format as there were competitors
in her heat. Predicting the final outcome is impossible: the competitor from Lithuania who began the staggered start run-shoot portion in
14th position ended with the Gold medal in the individual final.
My relay partner, Louise Helyer, was a strong competitor from Great Britain: we decided to enter a mixed team because each of the
British and the Canadian contingent had three women, and the new relay format requires teams of two competitors.
Earlier in the day I jokingly asked our Canadian National coach, John Hawes, what would happen if we were among the winners: which
flag would occupy the flagpole if a team of mixed nationalities took the podium? When Louise crossed the finish line we got to find out:
both flags. The British and the Canadian flags shared the third place position on the flag pole. I was honoured to see my flag. And I am looking forward to seeing it many more times. ``
Women’s Senior Final results: Monica Pinette 20th,.
Women’s Senior Semi-Final (A): Donna Vakalis 21st. Women’s Senior Semi-Final (B): Kara Grant 20th
Team: Donna Vakalis & Louise Helyer (GB) 3rd, Monica Pinette & Kara Grant 10th.
The Hungarians dominated the relay by winning both the gold and silver.
Note: Only the top 18 in each Semi Final proceeded to the Final.
- For complete results go to: http://pentathlon.org/index.php?id=114
- Read more World Cup 3 news on UIPM site at http://www.pentathlon.org/ |
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