Lithuania do the double as Kinderis takes Men’s World title

It was a day to remember for the Baltic nation of Lithuania as Justinas Kinderis took the Men’s World Championships gold after a confident combined event. The World No.4 had earlier scored a perfect ride after having placed third in the fence and 16th in the pool.

After starting the run/shoot event from second on the grid, four seconds behind Aleksander Lesun, the 26-year-old was precise with the pistol and his strong running gave him the perfect platform with which to bring home the title of World Champion.

It was a perfect day for Lithuania after Laura Asadauskaite had earlier taken the Women’s crown.

Kinderis told us, “I was worried about my shooting because I had a lot of problems with it. My coach and I have been concentrating a lot on that aspect so I felt good in the Final. I also knew I was faster than Lesun around the course so I felt I had a good chance. I am very very happy to win.” On the Lithuanian double, he added, “It is great for Lithuania. We came here with only three athletes so to get two golds is absolutely fantastic.”

It was also a memorable day for Great Britain’s Nick Woodbridge who took the silver after excellent showings in the early fence and in the pool. He kept his cool in the combined to cross the finish line in second spot.

Aleksander Lesun of Russia, who was leading coming into the combined after winning the fence and scoring a maximum 1200 points in the ride, could not fend off the chasing pack and was pegged back by Kinderis and Woodbridge and had to settle for bronze.

World Cup Final winner and World No.2 Valentin Prades from France, still only a teenager, made his way up from 16th on the grid to finish fourth with the day’s best swimmer James Cooke finishing just behind him to make it two Brits in the top five.

Ilya Frolov of Russia and Italian 27-year-old Nicola Benedetti were seventh and eighth respectively.

Team gold went to France with Jean Maxcence Berrou coming sixth and Christopher Patte finishing 9th overall. Although 2012 Junior World Champion Valentin Belaud’s time did not count towards his nation’s overall time, his total of 5172 points made it an impressive four Frenchmen in the final ten.