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Chen Qian of China jumps a fence during the show jumping section of the Modern Pentathlon World Championships at Crystal Palace National Stadium in England on Sunday. Chen won the gold medal. |
Three years out from the Olympic Games in 2012, China's Chen Qian proved that she is destined to be a real contender for Olympic gold in the modern pentathlon. Chen took out the 2009 World Championship title with 5,840 points on Sunday.
She said it was her consistency across all five disciplines that earned her the gold medal.
"The shooting was an especially important phase for me in my win," Chen said. "It's very exciting to win but it was also a very nervous experience until the finish line because I knew I had very strong competition coming behind me."
That strong competition came from Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania and Lena Shoneborn of Germany, who claimed the silver and bronze medals with 5,736 and 5,664 points respectively.
Chen started the day in third position after recording 25 victories from 35 bouts in the fencing. She reclaimed some ground with a 1,156 in the ride to enter the combined event of shooting and running in second-place, 16 seconds behind the leader.
But after some sharp-shooting, she never looked back and streaked away from the field to take the gold.
The day kicked off in the fencing hall with local lady, and 2008 World Championship bronze medalist, Britain's Katy Livingston, streaking to the lead with only six defeats from 35 bouts.
The impressive fencing gave her a score of 1,096 points, ahead of her closest rival Krisztina Cseh of Hungary, with 1,024 points. Chen secured 25 victories to be third with 1,000 points heading into the pool.
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Qian Chen of China wins a Gold Medal during the Women's Final Combined event during the 2009 Modern Pentathlon World Championships at Crystal Palace National Stadium on August 16, 2009 in London, England.?? |
There was 30 seconds separating the five heats in the swimming. Polina Struchtova of Russia completed the 200m dash in an impressive 2:09.76 to secure second-place on the leaderboard.
But Livingston wasn't too far off the pace and her 2:24.64 ensured she held on to poll position with 2,284 points.
Leila Gyenesei of Hungary made up for some poor fencing results with her 2:10.64, the second-fastest time in the pool, to climb the rankings into 14th position with 1,996 points.
The combined event was an amazing display of grit and determination from all of the competitors. But most impressive was Asadauskaite who ran and shot her way from 12th position to a silver medal in 11:34.76.
Chen was second-fastest, in 11:39.67, and reasonable stealth was shown by Shoneborn, who came from 10th place to take the bronze in 11:57.18.
(pentathlon.org/China Daily August 19, 2009)
