Tokyo Qualifier Day 1 Recap
by USA Modern Pentathlon
After a one-year pause, the Tokyo Qualification has picked up where it left off last March. Budapest, Hungary is the host for the first of three World Cups, where athletes from around the world are looking to secure valuable Olympic Ranking points and qualify for the Tokyo Games. Day one was the women’s semifinal and Team USA had four women competing.Jessica Davis (out of New York),Isabella Isaksen (out of Colorado), Phaelen French (out of Washington DC), and Claire Green (out of Colorado). Davis and Isaksen have been on the international circuit for many years. French andGreen will be competing in their first World Cup. Team USA is up against 76 other women from all over the globe, looking to be in the top 36 that make it into Friday’s final.
Group A started first with Isaksen as the lone USA athlete. Fencing was the first event and she ended up with 138 points which put her in 26th place. Next up was the swimming event where she swam a time of 2:26.58. In the swimming event, she finished in 24th place and was in 26th place heading into the laser run. With a total time of 14:03, she finished in 25th place in the event but was unable to gain any ground on her competitors. Isaksen finished the day in 26th place in her group.
Group B had French and Green. Swimming was the first event. French finished with a time of 2:29.34 which was 25th place for the event.Green finished in 27th place with a time of 2:32.29. Next up was the fencing event. In the fencing event, Green finished with 146 points for a 26th place finish and French finished with 138 points for a 27th place finish. Heading into the laser run,Green was in 26th place overall andFrench was in 27th place overall. Green ran the 18th fastest time of the group with a time of 13:02. That moved her up one position to finish the day in 25th place in her group.French ran a time of 13:47 and was also able to move up one position. She finished the day in 26th place overall in the group.
The last group, Group C, had Davis representing Team USA. She started the day with swimming and swam a time of 2:24.85. that time put her in 21st place for the event. Next up was the fencing event and Davis did great. She finished the fencing event in 5th place with a score of 234 points. Going into the laser run, Davis was in 10th place. She had a great event, even running in 5th place at one point. She ended up crossing the line in 11th place. With that finish, she ended up with 31st place overall for the day and qualified for Friday’s final.
Day one is in the books. Congrats to Davis on making her first final in a World Cup. Tomorrow is the men’s turn as they look to make Saturday’s final. Tune intoUIPMTV.org or http://www.pentathlon.hu/kozvetites/ to watch the live events of the World Cup. GO TEAM USA!!!