Pentathlon Ireland to Host International Preparation Camp for London Games

Pentathlon Ireland are hosting an international preparation camp for the London 2012 Olympic Games this week.

The Union International Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) has selected Ireland to host a riding preparation camp with emphasis on the upcoming Olympics with qualified athletes from Austria, Germany, Lithuania and Russia attending the camp.

Riding will be the main focus of the training camp but athletes will also maintain training for fencing, shooting, swimming and running which will be of benefit to Pentathlon Ireland's Olympic hopeful Natalya Coyle.

The riding phase of modern pentathlon is notoriously difficult and in the past athletes have missed out on major titles from having poor show jumping rounds. For the riding discipline, athletes ride unfamiliar horses over a show jumping course that features 12 jumps including one double and one treble.

Athletes pick their horse by lot and have 20 minutes and five practice jumps for warm up before entering the arena. Such a task requires good show jumping skills as well as the ability to quickly assess the type of horse drawn and adapt to get the best round from your horse.


The group of athletes attending the camp is led the 2010 World Championships Bronze medalist; Justinas Kinderis (Lithuania).

Stefan Koellner (Germany) who finished in fourth place at the recent World Championships in Rome is also in attendance. Thomas Daniel (Austria) makes up the trio of male athletes who have qualified for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Young Ukrainian athlete Rusian Nakonechnyi completes the male representatives while Julia Kolegova (Russia) is the sole female athlete on the camp and will have high hopes for the Olympic Games after finishing ninth in the Olympic test event in London last summer.