World Cup 3, Men's Qualification Recap

Today was the Men’s qualification for World Cup #3. 87 men from all 6 continents came to Budapest, Hungary to compete and earn Olympic Ranking points for the 2024 Olympic Games qualification. Spread across three groups in the qualification round, the top 12 in each group advance to the semi-final round. Team USA fielded a full team, Brendan Anderson, Tristen Bell, Tyler Evans, and Sam Ruddock.

Ruddock competed in group A with fencing as the first event. He had a rough start to the fence but managed to string together some victories during the last few rounds. His score of 166 points put him in 26th place for the event. Up next was the swimming event. Swimming in heat one, Ruddock jumped to the lead from the start. He held on to win the heat with a time of 2:07.21; 18th place overall for the event. Heading into the laser run, Ruddock was in 26th place. Ruddock ran well but had difficulties in the first and third shooting series, causing him to lose a couple of places. He crossed the line in a time of 12:11 which put him in 28th place overall in the group with a score of 1031.

Group B had Evans competing and fencing was the first event. He stayed even throughout most of the event but had a tough time in the last few rounds; losing a few in a row. He scored a total of 187 points which put him in 27th place for the event. The swimming event was next. Evans was able to win his heat, swimming a time of 2:04.30 which was a season’s best and put him in 16th place for the event. Before the laser run, Evans was in 22nd place. He lost a couple of places during the run, running a time of 11:37. He finished 26th place overall in the group with a score of 1092.

Anderson and Bell were the two Americans in group C. Their day started with the swimming event. Both swam season’s best; Bell swam the 17th fastest time with a 2:06.48 and Anderson swam the 10th fastest time with a 2:05.04. The fencing ranking round was next. Bell had a slow start the first couple of rounds but was able to be more consistent during the rest of the rounds. He scored a total of 194 points which was 21st place in the event. Anderson had a good fence throughout and finished strong with some good victories against strong opponents. He scored a total of 215 points, a season’s best, and finished the event in 12th place. After two events, Bell was in 22nd place and Anderson was in 14th place. Bell had a great shoot, even clearing the second series in under 7 seconds. His laser run time of 11:01 kept him is his original, finishing 22nd overall for the group with a total score of 1131. Anderson had a great laser rune event, running a total of 10:38. He unfortunately lost one position and crossed the line in 15th place overall, missing the top 12 by just 8 points. Anderson finished the day with a season’s best total score of 1177 points.

No men were able to advance to the semi-final round. Up next for Team USA will be the mixed relay on April 27th. Phaelen French and Tristen Bell will team up to compete against the best in the world. GO TEAM USA!!!