Olympic Qualification on agenda of Modern Pentathlon Australia

The great sporting city of Melbourne last weekend hosted the Australian Team Selection Trial #2 as the country’s top pentathletes continued their journey towards the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

This competition was the second selection round for Australian pentathletes to go to the Oceania/Asia Olympic qualifying event, to be held in Beijing in June. Brisbane had held the first selection round in December.

In total, 34 pentathletes competed in all categories and three achieved the criteria. Chloe Esposito, Ed Fernon and Max Esposito will compete in Beijing for the right to represent Australia in Rio next year.

Chloe Esposito and Ed Fernon satisfied the criteria at the Brisbane event while Max Esposito had already achieved it during the 2014 World Cup season. The selection process was based on the official Olympic nomination criteria and all selections were endorsed by the Australian Olympic Committee.

As well as high-performance outcomes, these two competitions also served as an opportunity for junior and youth athletes to compete for the first time in a full pentathlon event. While pentathlon has a strong tradition in Victoria and New South Wales, interest has grown in two other states, Queensland and Western Australia.