59th WMC Aeronautical Pentathlon – Gran Canaria (ESP) – Competition Day 3
GRAN CANARIA (ESP) – The third day of competition of the 59th World Military Aeronautical Pentathlon Championship took place yesterday in Gran Canaria and our military athletes took part in the Ball Contest. The competition took place in presence of General Hervé Piccirillo, the CISM President, who met with Norberto Francisco Castellano Ortiz, the Sports Advisor of the Government of Gran Canaria.
But you are probably wondering what this event consists of: the ball contest is composed of two exercises, a skill course and a "relaxation".
The skill course is divided into several parts: coordination, dexterity and speed. In the coordination event, the goal of each athlete is to score five baskets with five balls previously placed on the free throw line extending to the sideline. The competitor can choose the order in which he/she throws the ball. However, if a player fails to score and has already picked up the next ball, the competitor must return that ball to its starting position (as close as possible) and score the missed ball before continuing the game.
The purpose of the dexterity event is to run across the field filled with hurdles dribbling with the ball and score in both baskets. The direction of the run is chosen by the competitor, but the hurdles must be arranged in such a way that counter-clockwise running is not possible. In the speed event, the athletes have to score 10 baskets as fast as possible.
In the second exercise, relaxation, the athletes have to score the most baskets out of twenty shots within four minutes in the following order: 10 baskets via the board and 10 baskets without touching the ring.
After the explanations, let's see the results!
In the women's competition, the Czech Karolina Zolnová proved to be the most precise and fastest, finishing the course in 59.8 seconds and scoring 8 baskets. Thanks to this performance, she accumulated 840 points which allowed her to return to the fight in the provisional general classification. The two Brazilians Mayara Soares da Silva (62.8 seconds and 8 baskets) and Ellen Caroline de Souza (66.8 seconds and 9 baskets) finished second and third in the women's ball contest.
Despite two very disappointing performances, the Russians Anastasia Petrova (3854 points) and Ekaterina Ivleva (3544 points) keep their respective first and second place in the provisional ranking, just ahead of the winner of the day, Karolina Zolnová (3422 points), while the Russian Ekaterina Utina falls to the fourth place at only 50 points from the Czech.
Russia also keeps its first place in the team ranking and is now ahead of Brazil who took advantage of the Ball Contest to overtake the Spanish team!
Largely in the lead before the start of the Ball Contest, Ukrainian Dmytro Kmetiuk limited the breakage by finishing 20th of a day's event dominated by Brazilian Andre Rossi Kuroswiski who finished the course in 56 seconds and scored the most baskets of the day (15)!
The two local athletes, Victor Rodriguez Sanchez (54.9 seconds and 13 baskets) and Eduardo Carrillo Martinez-Osorio (55.9 and 12 baskets), put in a superb performance and finished second and third. They take advantage of this performance to move up to 5th and 7th place in a provisional ranking still dominated by the Ukrainian Kmetiuk. Thanks to his victory of the day, the Brazilian Andre Rossi Kuroswiski climbs on the second step of the general classification and is only 230 points away from Kmetiuk, with two events to go! The Russian Petrov also remains in ambush at 260 points!
Everything is still to play for and the suspense remains intact in the men's competition.
In the men's team competition, the gaps are closing and Ukraine has only 162 points ahead of Brazil and 243 points ahead of Russia! There too, everything remains to be done!
See you today for the obstacle race which will see the athletes take off on a 400m course with between 10 and 12 obstacles!
- Program of the event
- Results of the Day : Male - Female
- Start Lists : Obstacle Run
(Source: CISM Media and Communication Department)
