Modern pentathletes take two gold, two silver and one bronze in Hangzhou

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Published: 24 Sep. 2023, 18:18 Updated: 25 Sep. 2023, 17:00

Modern pentathletes take two gold, two silver and one bronze in Hangzhou

Korea's Jun Woong-tae crosses the finish line at the end of the laser-run to win gold in the men's individual laser-run at the 19th Asian Games at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China on Sunday. [YONHAP]

The Korean modern pentathlon team won two gold, two silver and one bronze medal on Sunday in a dramatic opening to the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Jun Woong-tae won gold in the men’s individual event on Sunday evening at at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China with a score of 1,508, narrowly beating countryman Lee Ji-hun in second place with 1,492 points and Li Shuhuan of China in third with 1,484 points.

Jun, who holds the joint modern pentathlon world record at 1,534 points, finished first in the swimming with a time of 1 minute and 59.28 seconds, seventh in the fencing and riding and second in the laser-run with a time of 10 minutes and 30.19 seconds.

Lee outperformed Jun in fencing and riding, finishing first in both, but managed a seventh-place finish in the swimming and came 12th in the laser-run.

The duos performance, along with fourth-place finisher Jung Jin-hwa who scored 1,477, also earned Korea a gold medal in the team event.

Unlike in the Olympics, where modern pentathlon medals are awarded only to individual athletes, the Asian Games also awards a team medal for the best cumulative score. In this event, the scores of the top three athletes from each country with at least three athletes competing are combined to create a country score.

Korea topped the table with a combined 4,477 points, easily beating China on 4,397 and Japan on 4,250.

The men’s success came a few hours after Kim Sun-woo won Korea’s first medal of the Games in the women’s modern pentathlon, finishing second in the women’s event to claim her third consecutive Asiad medal.

Kim Sun-woo reacts on the podium after winning silver in the women's individual modern pentathlon at the Hangzhou Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Sunday. Kim's medal was Korea's first of the tournament. [YONHAP]

Kim scored a total 1,386 points to take silver after the laser-run, finishing 20 points behind Zhang Mingyu of China in first and 12 points ahead of Bian Yufei of China in third.

Kim landed in second place after an especially strong performance during the fencing, finishing second behind Bian with 269 points. She finished fourth in the swimming with a time of 2 minutes and 13.61 minutes and fifth in the riding with 63.46 points.

Kim was also partly responsible for Korea’s second medal of the Asian Games, with Korea taking home the bronze team medal in the women’s modern pentathlon.

China topped the table with a combined score of 4,094, followed by Japan in second with 3,705 and Korea with 3,574. Kazakhstan was the only other country eligible for the event, finishing fourth with 3,508.

Kim Sun-woo was joined in the team scoring by Kim Se-hee, who finished 11th in the individual event with a total score of 1,100, and Seong Seung-min, who finished 12th with 1,088 points. Jang Hae-un was the fourth Korean competing in the women’s competition, finishing in 13th place with 1,063 points.

Kim Se-hee, Seong and Jang all saw their scores take a big hit after they failed to pick up any points in riding. All three were hit with EL elimination scores, meaning their horse failed to clear or refused to attempt an obstacle.

As a result of that loss of point, Jang ended up finishing in 13th despite winning the laser-run with a time of 11 minutes and 42.27 seconds, with Kim Se-hee finishing second and Seong fourth.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]