UIPM 2016 World Cup Final - Schoeneborn beats spirited starlet to land World Cup

Lena Schoeneborn was crowned winner of the UIPM 2016 World Cup Final after summoning all her experience to top the podium in the Florida sunshine. The 30-year-old German, Olympic champion in 2008, will aim to defend her world title in Moscow (RUS) later this month knowing she is in fantastic shape with the Olympic Games in Rio only three months ahead. This victory came five years after her last World Cup Final gold, in London in 2011, which followed Schoeneborn's breakthrough success in Moscow in 2010. But her task today was made complicated by a very impressive Lithuanian. Usually, the Lithuanian making life difficult for Schoeneborn is the world No.1 Laura Asadauskaite, but her absence from this Final opened the door for Ieva Serapinaite and the 21-year-old performed superbly all day to take home a richly deserved bronze medal. Not only did Serapinaite (LTU) demonstrate the all-round skill to be a champion pentathlete, she also showed she has plenty of spirit. After seeing her 25-point lead in the Combined Event eroded by Schoeneborn (GER), her response to being overtaken at the 2nd Shooting series was to take the lead back at the 3rd range. In the end, inevitably, she was hunted down by her more experienced rival and Zsofia Foldhazi (HUN) also asserted her class to deny her the silver medal, but it was an exciting breakthrough performance by the Lithuanian. Schoeneborn (GER) was especially pleased to have prevailed after a hard three-week training camp with her German team-mates in Colorado. She also said it was a useful exercise to compete on a timetable that exactly matches what the athletes will face at the Olympic Games, with no semi-final and the Fencing Ranking Round taking place 24 hours before the rest of the final. "This is a long phase of training, because I hope I now have enough points to qualify for Rio, so this was a real training for August, from Colorado to here," said Schoeneborn (GER). "I had a good Fence yesterday, and then went for a coffee in the afternoon to see something different, which is what I will do in Rio. "I had a very bad swim, which I hope is because I trained very hard for the last three weeks. Same for Running, where the wind was hard. With Shooting I had one bad series as well, but it was enough. "The World Championships won't be a focus, because I think I can only have one focus in a year, so I will keep on training and focus on August. But sometimes it's not only about Swimming and Running, but your mental strength on the day." Foldhazi (HUN) added after receiving her silver medal: "I wanted first place but it's a podium, so it's good. I'm really happy with the result and the points." At the start of the day, Elodie Clouvel (FRA) displayed her customary class in Swimming with the fastest time by a clear margin. Clouvel (FRA) timed 2:08.58 to set the standard for the day ahead of Foldhazi (HUN, 2:11.05) and Alice Sotero (ITA, 2:11.55). Serapinaite (LTU, 2:11.97) was the fourth athlete to score over 300 points but Schoeneborn (GER) left herself playing catch-up after one of the slowest times of the 36 participants. After the Fencing Bonus Round, Serapinaite (LTU) led overall from Schoeneborn (GER) and it was Elena Rublevska (LAT) who took the most points forward after 26 wins out of 35. The Riding ended the challenge of a number of athletes who had looked to be in contention for medals, but it only strengthened the claim of the two favorites. Schoeneborn (GER) had a clear round on Personality, as did Iryna Khokhlova (ARG), while Serapinaite (LTU) incurred only four penalty points for time lapses, allowing her to give her a commanding lead in the Combined Event. Foldhazi (HUN), however, suffered a blow to her hopes as she racked up 24 penalty points, which consigned her to a 55-second deficit. Serapinaite (LTU) started 25 seconds ahead of Schoeneborn (GER) with Yane Marques (BRA) and Claudia Cesarini (ITA) a further 23 seconds back and Foldhazi just behind them alongside Anna Buriak (RUS). It was a confident start from the leader, until she stuttered on the 2nd Shooting series and lost her lead to Schoeneborn (GER). Remarkably, she stayed on the German's shoulder for the next 800m and then pounced when they picked up their laser guns again. On the 3rd lap of Running, she stayed in touch with Schoeneborn (GER) once more but the 4th lap was one too many and the young Lithuanian had to admit defeat. Foldhazi (HUN) could be satisfied with her comeback after a poor ride and the joy of Serapinaite (LTU) on the finish line showed it was a satisfying result for all three medallists. Others, too, showed great emotion on the finish line knowing that their Olympic qualifying dream had been realised or at least kept intact. Fourth place went to Serapinaite's team-mate Gintare Venckauskaite (LTU), while Buriak (RUS) was 5th and Freyja Prentice (GBR) 6th. The American crowd loudly cheered home their representatives, all of whom had respectable finishes: Isabella Isaksen (11), Samantha Achterberg (12) and Margaux Isaksen (16). UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said: "This was an exciting competition at the rowing centre in Sarasota where we already had two World Cups in the past two years, and we saw a top race between the top six athletes. "It was one of the last big chance for many athletes to qualify the Rio Olympic Games, so let's see how the results come out. I think there are some ladies very happy now to be on the way to Rio." The World Cup Final continues with the Men's Final on Saturday, May 7 and closes with the Mixed Relay on Sunday, May 8. The Men's Final began today with the Fencing Ranking Round, which saw Guo Jianli (CHN) top the standings with 24 victories in 35 bouts, two more than Christian Zillekens (GER) and three more than the world No.2 Amro El Geziry (EGY). The Combined Event of all finals is available to watch live on uipmtv.org, where you can also see highlights from the Women's Final and previous competitions, while a full live results service is provided on pentathlon.org. 2016 UIPM World Cup Final, Sarasota, USA Women's Individual Final Final Standings: 1 SCHONEBORN Lena GER 1375 2 FOLDHAZI Zsofia HUN 1366 3 SERAPINAITE Ieva LTU 1360 4 VENCKAUSKAITE Gintare LTU 1347 5 BURIAK Anna RUS 1340 6 PRENTICE Freyja GBR 1336 7 SCHLEU Annika GER 1328 8 CESARINI Claudia ITA 1327 9 KODEDOVA Barbora CZE 1324 10 VEGA Tamara MEX 1319 11 CLOUVEL Elodie FRA 1316 12 ISAKSEN Isabella USA 1306 13 ACHTERBERG Samantha USA 1301 14 MARQUES Yane BRA 1297 15 ALEKSZEJEV Tamara HUN 1292 16 ISAKSEN Margaux USA 1289 17 KOHLMANN Janine GER 1286 18 COYLE Natalya IRL 1279 19 OZYUKSEL Ilke TUR 1278 20 RUBLEVSKA Elena LAT 1264 21 MICHELI Elena ITA 1262 22 AROL Katsiaryna BLR 1260 23 TOMONAGA Natsumi JPN 1256 24 JEONG Mina KOR 1255 25 VAKALIS Donna CAN 1255 26 MALISZEWSKA Anna POL 1242 27 PERMYKINA Valeriya UKR 1238 28 POTAPENKO Elena KAZ 1228 29 SALMINEN Laura FIN 1227 30 OTEIZA Marie FRA 1227 31 MCCANN Melanie CAN 1220 32 SOTERO Alice ITA 1219 33 SAVCHENKO Anna RUS 1206 34 SHIMAZU Rena JPN 1195 35 BELHAMRI Julie FRA 1053 36 KHOKHLOVA IRYNA ARG 784