Pan American Games 2019: 10 athletes qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympic pentathlon

Ten athletes from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean have secured their place in the Modern Pentathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after outstanding performances at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Mariana Arceo of Mexico and Charles Fernandez of Guatemala won gold medals in the Women’s and Men’s Finals respectively, guaranteeing their participation in Tokyo (JPN) where the world’s best athletes will compete for the ultimate prize of Olympic gold in 12 months’ time.

In the Women’s Individual Final on July 27, Arceo (MEX) was joined on the podium by silver medallist Samantha Achterberg of USA and Leydi Laura Moya of Cuba, who won bronze.

In accordance with the Tokyo 2020 qualification process, the other two Olympic places were secured by the highest-placed athletes from participating South American countries, 4th-placed Maria Ieda Chaves of Brazil and 13th-placed Lourdes Marcela Cuaspud of Ecuador.

In the Men’s Individual Final on July 28, Fernandez (GUA) prevailed in a thrilling contest with Esteban Bustos of Chile, who also qualified for the Olympics by winning silver.

Bronze medallist Sergio Villamayor of Argentina joined Bustos (CHI) in picking up a South American qualification place, while 4th-placed Lester Ders of Cuba and 5th-placed Amro Elgeziry of USA also booked their tickets to Tokyo.

The 10 Pan American qualifiers joined African champions Haydy Morsy and Sherif Nazeir of Egypt and UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Cup Final champions Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania and Joseph Choong of Great Britain in confirming their participation at Tokyo 2020.

Another 16 athletes will secure their place at the European Championships in Bath (GBR) from August 6-11 and a further six places will be at stake at the UIPM 2019 Pentathlon World Championships in Budapest (HUN) from September 2-8.

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: “In the last two days we have enjoyed the Pan American Games individual pentathlon competitions for men and women, and they have all competed at a high level to try to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“Yesterday we saw great performances from the women, and it was important to see many countries from the Americas taking part – a big increase from the previous Pan American Games in Toronto (CAN).

“After today’s men’s competition, when we look at the nations that won a place, we have the right nations representing us from a sport-political point of view.

“I also want to mention the great horses that were presented for the competition, and also the set-up of the whole facility here in Lima is amazing and we are very happy that this Pan American Games has been a great success for the people of Peru, the whole South American Olympic society and also for our Union.

“Thanks to all the volunteers, to Jorge Salas who is the President of the South American Confederation and to Neven Ilic, President of PASO – they are the leaders who have made it possible to have so many medal events here, with the relays still to come.

“Congratulations to all the athletes who have qualified, and good luck to the athletes who still have the possibility to reach Tokyo in the coming year.”

The Pentathlon competition continues at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima (PER) on Monday, 29 July with the Women’s and Men’s Relays, before concluding on Tuesday, 30 July with the Mixed Relay.