2015 Modern Pentathlon winners celebrate on the podium.

 

By Sports Reporter/Doha


Annika Schleu (GER) demonstrated that she will be a force to be reckoned with in Olympic year after being named UIPM Champion of Champions and picking up the last major title of the 2015 Modern Pentathlon season.
Schleu, ranked 22 in the world, surprised herself with a highly accomplished performance in good conditions in Doha. Having come out on top in the Riding, she maintained her form through the Combined Event to win women’s individual gold.
World No. 6 Chloe Esposito (AUS) picked up silver and Gintare Venckauskaite (LTU) joined them on the podium as the bronze medallist at the Qatar Foundation venue. Schleu reflected with great satisfaction on a victory that set her up for a 2016 season that she hopes will culminate in success at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, events that she expects to qualify.
She said after receiving her gold medal: “I am so happy because last season didn’t go the way I wanted it to and I still have to qualify for the German team for the Olympics.
“So I hope to gain some confidence from this, and I am very proud of my fencing. Fencing is always my weakness and I can’t believe I won the fencing.”
In the pool, Natsumi Tomanaga (JAP) emerged as the fastest swimmer ahead of Mina Jeong (KOR) and Esposito (AUS).
With 20 victories and 10 defeats, Schleu (GER) took the initiative after winning the Fencing Bonus Round ahead of Soo Jin Yang (KOR) and Melanie McCann (CAN).
In the riding area, Annika Schleu and compatriot Janine Kohlmann both enjoyed a perfect performance to carry the maximum 300 points, allowing Schleu to start first the Combined Event.
Having come so far and overcome her main weakness (fencing), there was no way Schleu (GER) was going to be denied her prize as she kept her nerve with laser pistol in hand and never gave anybody a chance of catching her.
Behind the winner there was a fantastic race for silver as Esposito (AUS) moved smoothly through the field having begun the Combined Event in 7th place.
Similarly, Venckauskaite (LTU) began the closing event in 11th place but showed great determination to fight her way past Anastasiya Prokopenko (BLR, 4th), Lavinia Bonessio (ITA, 5th) and McCann (CAN, 6th).
Chloe Esposito (AUS) was particularly pleased with her Combined Event performance.
She said after the medal presentation: “I’m very happy. This was my first competition of the season and I’ve just been training very hard and I have not peaked yet so it’s really nice to know I’m at this level.
“Hopefully I can move forward from here and perform well in the French Open, then the Hungarian Open and the World Cup series early next year.”
Dr Klaus Schormann, President of UIPM, paid tribute to the organisers in Doha and expressed confidence that more competitions other than the UIPM Champion of Champions – which will be held in Doha at least until 2017 – could also come to this venue.
Dr Schormann said: “I think we have a fantastic competition here in Doha. For most of the athletes this is the end of a long season.
“The facilities are excellent – as we know already from 2013 – and the organisation is good, including all the technical parts.
“We also tested the new targets today, the fencing machines, and everything worked properly. The way the athletes performed, you could see again the dynamic changes in running and shooting.
“You could see that the Organising Committee here is quite happy that this competition went well. Tomorrow we will see the men performing, and this is a wonderful place to have promotional competitions in the future, based on the excellent communication we have with the National Federation of Qatar.”
The 2015 UIPM Champion of Champions concludes on today with the Men’s Individual event.