UCDs Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe produced the best result of his pentathlon career to qualify for the Men’s final at the Senior European Championships on Saturday in Medway, England.

The 20 year old athlete from Kilkenny, who is a current recipient of an Elite Athlete Scholarship in UCD, finished 9th in semi final A on Friday with the top 18 making the cut to the final. Team mate, Eanna Bailey, was unfortunate to miss out on qualification, finishing in 22nd in semi final B.

This championship was a key challenge for London 2012 with the top 8 finishers being awarded a place in the Olympic Games.

Arthur began his day in the fencing hall where he won 13 of his 30 bouts giving him a total of 776 pentathlon points and putting him in 22nd position after the first event. Meanwhile, Eanna began his day in the pool, smashing his personal best time, stopping the clock on 1:58,57. This was the third quickest time in semi final B and gave him 1380 pentathlon points.

The two Irish athletes swapped sporting arenas, Arthur to the pool and Eanna to the fencing hall. Not to be outdone by Eanna, Arthur also smashed his personal best time, posting a 1.58.80 which was the 4th quickest and gave him 1376 pentathlon points. This pushed him up to 13th position on the leader board after two events. Eanna scored 11 victories out of 30 bouts in the fencing for 720 pentathlon points, placing him in 22nd position after two events.

With the top 18 athletes to qualify for Saturday’s final the Irish athletes were well placed with the combined event to go. Arthur’s semi final was up first. Arthur was 228 points behind the leader of the competition which translated to a 57second handicap for the run/shoot event but had just a five second advantage over the athlete starting in 19th position. Arthur produced a solid shooting display and backed it up with strong running to qualify comfortably, crossing the finish line in 9th place.

Eanna started his semi final placed in 21st position and shot well on his first two visits to the range (24 and 20 seconds respectively), despite backing this up with good running, the athlete occupying 18th position remained 14seconds ahead of him on the course as Eanna came in for his last shoot series. Unfortunately, Eanna was left standing on the range for 40seconds as he struggled to clear the five targets. The gap to 18th position was too much to make up on the final 1km lap and Eanna crossed the finish line in 22nd position.

Arthur came out of the final, not with a top finish or automatic Olympic Qualification, but a very respectable 20th place. Arthur is the is the first Irish male pentathlete to qualify for a final at a major senior competition. 

Natalya Coyle will be the sole representative for Ireland in the Women’s qualification competition tomorrow. Natalya, who finished 20th at the recent Olympic test event in London, will be looking for a top 18 position to qualify for the Women’s Final on Sunday.

 For more information see: http://www.pentathlon.org/