Favourites in Men’s draw progress to World Cup #1 Final
In a scintillating day of competition at the Unidad Deportivo Acapulco, the favourites made their mark in the Qualification phase of World Cup #1. 36 of the planet’s best men ensured their presence in Saturday’s final in the picturesque Mexican coastal resort after battling torrid conditions and an extremely competitive playing field.
Group A saw 2013 World Cup #3 winner Pavlo Tymoshchenko of Ukraine claim top spot after his 22 victories in the morning fence and 8th place in the swim put him in pole for the combined. It was a position he never relinquished as he moved into the final with ease. He was closely followed by Italy’s Riccardo De Luca, who had also scored the same amount of victories with the epee.
The fastest swimmer in the group, with a time of 2:05.13, was Cuba’s Lester Ders. The 23-year-old, competing in only his second ever international competition, ran the second quickest in the combined to finish third. Egypt’s Eslam Hamad came fourth with Poland’s Sebastian Stasiak made up the top five.
Russia’s Aleksander Lesun once again demonstrated his skills on the pistes as he claimed 22 wins in the Group B fence. The World No.5 went into the swim ahead of Robert Kasza of Hungary with Dmytro Kirpulyanskyy of Ukraine and France’s Valentin Prades sharing third place. In the pool, Egypt’s Amro El Geziry was the quickest, recording a sub-2 minute time with Kasza moving top of the rankings after finishing fourth.
Lesun then showed his class in the run/shoot to cross the finish line first juts ahead of the Hungarian.
A blistering time of 1:57.66 by James Cooke in the water put the Brit in a commanding position going into the Group C fence. On the pistes, Omar El Geziry, brother of Amro, won the fence ahead of his compatriot Yasser Hefny as he secured top spot in the provisional rankings going into the final event of the day.
Surprisingly it was Jorge Inzunza who delighted the home crowd as he finished the run shoot first to book his place in the final.
Results:
Saturday's Men's World Cup #1 Final line-up
Friday now sees the Women Final take place
Women’s Final Schedule:
- Fence 09:30
- Swim 14:00
- Ride 15:45
- Combined 18:00
Competition schedule:
- Friday 28 February – Women’s Final
- Saturday 1 March – Men’s Final
- Sunday 2 March – Mixed Relay
A World Cup Series for both men and women has been organised since 1990. Each year between 4 and 6 World Cup competitions are organised. At the end of these competitions there is a World Cup Final in which the best 36 male and female athletes participate. The athletes qualify for the Final via a league table (World Cup Standings) constructed from their three best World Cup Competitions. Throughout the series prize money is available.
In 2014 there are 4 World Cup competitions followed by the World Cup Final:
- World Cup #1: Acapulco, Mexico 26 February - 2 March 2014
- World Cup #2: Cairo, Egypt 02-06 April 2014
- World Cup #3: Chengdu, China 16-20 April 2013
- World Cup #4: Kecskemet, Hungary 1-5 May 2013
- World Cup Final: Sarasota-Bradenton, USA 06-08 June 2013
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