Ireland takes first Modern Pentathlon Gold at Euro Championships

ARTHUR Lanigan-O’Keeffe is the new European Modern Pentathlon Champion in a historic day (Saturday) for Irish Sport in Bath, England. Arthur becomes the first ever Irish pentathlete to win gold and has sealed his place at the 2016 Olympic Games in the process. 

Arthur put in an outstanding performance in all disciplines, his swim of 2:02.49 put him in 7th place heading into the fencing round where he produced a truly world-class display taking 23 victories and only 12 defeats to place 2nd after the round robin fencing event. The fencing bonus round saw him take two further points and a 2nd place overall going into the ride.

With his horse “Davis” he had a clear ride with just 5 points deducted for time-delay. As the athletes meet their horse only 20 minutes before the ride, he was delighted with his allocation. “I was really lucky with the horse I got, he was really sweet.”

 He started the combined run/shoot event with a 20 second lead over Great Britain’s James Cooke, and maintained a significant lead throughout. Although it was his first time leading a senior championship, he kept his cool to cross the finish line with a 16 second lead over France’s Valentin Prades, and Italy’s Riccardo de Luca. 

 “It basically means the world to me, our whole season has been focused on peaking at this one moment and we peaked at it so it gives me great confidence going into Rio. I’ve now qualified for the Olympics, I’m the European Champion, it’s pretty much up there with the top days of my life. I am so delighted, it’s amazing” says Arthur on his victory.

High Performance Director Andy Mackenzie was also ecstatic about the Irish win “It shows the work that Arthur’s been doing over the years. He’s allowed this to happen, he’s had this in him for ages but he’s come of age today which is great. For the High Performance programme, again it justifies everything we are doing and hopefully it will help our funding too” 

Ireland has another opportunity for Olympic qualification tomorrow as Natalya Coyle competes in the women’s final.

Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe at the medal ceremony today