South Korean Wins Modern Pentathlon World Cup Semifinal

POMONA, CA -- Jung Jin-hwa of South Korea won Wednesday's men's semifinal of the UIPM World Cup in Pomona and Claremont, the first international modern pentathlon competition in Los Angeles County since the 1984 Olympics.

Jung matched the second-best performance in fencing, the opening event at Fairplex's Expo Hall 8, winning 23 of 31 bouts for 264 points. He had the sixth-best time in the 200-meter swim at The Claremont Club, two minutes, 4.34 seconds.

Under modern pentathlon rules, the leader entering the final event, the laser-run, starts first, with the remaining athletes starting one second behind the leader for each point they trail him or her.

The first athlete to complete the laser-run, where the athletes seek to hit a target five times from 10 meters with a laser pistol before running each of the four 800-meter laps, is the winner of the competition.

Jung completed the laser-run in 12:26 for 554 points, giving him 1,120 for the competition.

Tomoyuki Ono of Japan was second with 1,114, with Melchor Silva of Mexico third with 1,113.

Three of the 12 Americans in the field of 64 from 19 nations were among the 36 qualifiers for Friday's final.

American Logan Storie equaled the fourth-highest score, 1,112. 2016 Olympian Nathan Schrimsher, equaled the 18th-highest, 1,101 points. His younger brother Lucas matched the lowest-qualifying score, 1,085.

Storie, who swam at the University of Florida, had the fastest time in the 200-meter swim at 1:56.10, the only sub-2-minute time.

Other qualifiers included Aleksander Lesun of Russia, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, who tied for 10th with 1,106 points; Pavlo Tymoshchenko of Ukraine, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, who tied for 11th with 1,105 points; and David Svoboda of the Czech Republic, the 2012 gold medalist, who tied for 22nd with 1,098.

The modern pentathlon also includes riding, which is not part of the semifinals.

The modern pentathlon was invented in 1909 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, as a test of the skills required by 19th century cavalry soldiers. It has been held in each Summer Olympics since 1912.

The women's semifinals will be held Thursday at Fairplex and The Claremont Club, followed by the opening ceremony at The Farm at Fairplex which will include the induction of World War II U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton into the UIPM Hall of Fame.

Patton finished fifth in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics.

-- City News Service, photo via Pixabay