2021 UIPM World Championships Day 3 Recap

Day 3 was the first day of individual events at the 2021 World Championships. Athletes from all over the world came to Cairo, Egypt looking to get the last remaining Tokyo Olympic Games qualifying spots. The top 15 athletes from each group directly qualified to the final, plus the next 6 highest point totals between the groups. Team USA had four women competing: Samantha Schultz, Jessica Davis, Claire Green, and Phaelen French.

            Group A got things started first with the fencing event. Claire Green and Phaelen French were in this group, both competing in their first World Championships. Green had some great hits against top level athletes, finishing the day with 159 points which put her in 30^th place for the event. French got a personal best in the number of hits she got, even scoring a hit on the reigning Olympic silver medalist. Her score of 131 put her in 32^nd place for the event. Up next was the swimming event. Both women were in heat 1 and swam neck and neck the whole race. Green touched the wall half a second ahead of French, going 2:36.4 and 2:36.9, respectively. Before the laser run, Green was in 31^st place and French was in 32^nd place. Green struggled a little on the shooting but used her running to stay competitive and passed one person to finish in 30^th place overall in her group. French hit a personal best in her shooting and used her running to pass one person to finish in 31^st place overall in the group. Unfortunately, with those finishes, neither athlete was able to qualify for the finals.

Schultz and Davis represented Team USA in group B. They started the day with the swimming event. Swimming in heat 2, Davis swam a best time in the pool, going a 2:29.8. In heat 3, Schultz was just one second off her personal best, swimming a 2:20.7. After one event, Schultz was in 17^th place and Davis was in 29^th place. The fencing event was up next. Davis stayed consistent throughout the day and scored some amazing hits. She scored the most hits in a competition this season, scoring a total of 222 points and finishing in 8^th place in the fencing event. Schultz was doing well throughout the event. With missing some hits towards the end, she still managed to get a season’s best on number of hits scored. Schultz finished the fencing event with 194 points which put her in 23^rd place for the event. Before the laser run Davis was in 15^th place and Schultz was in 19^th place. Schultz had some decent shooting and strong running to move her up a few places to cross the finish line in 15^th place, earning a direct qualification into the final. Davis had some misses on each series which put her times a little off her average. But strong running kept her in contention, and she crossed the line in 17^th place overall. With her score, she got the 5^th wild card spot to qualify for the final.

Day 4 will see the men’s individual semi-finals and Team USA athlete will look to qualify for the final. Also on Day 4, will be the fencing round robin event for the women’s final. Schultz and Davis will be looking to have a strong performance and put themselves in a good position heading into the final day of the women’s competition. GO TEAM USA!!!