Sublime Marosi delights home crown with World Cup #4 gold
An enthralling Men’s Final at World Cup #4 in Kecskemet climaxed with a sensational combined as Adam Marosi claimed Hungary’s first gold at a World Cup on home soil since Gabor Balogh in 1996.
The London 2012 bronze medallist was inspired in the last event of the day, making up a 4 second gap coming out of the last passage at the range, overtaking the front two in the last few meters to win the competition in style.
He began his campaign for honours with a third place on the pistes as he claimed 23 victories in the round robin epee fencing. Third quickest in the 200m freestyle swim with a time of 2:01,31 put him in first place before the equestrian event. In the ride, 27 penalty points relegated Marosi to third at the start of the combined but in the run/shoot he was unstoppable as he powered to a sumptuous victory.
He told us, “It was really hard, so tough, against Lesun and Kasza, two of the best in front of me, I had to give it my all. What a great feeling to win in Hungary. A lot of people have asked me so many times when I would win in Hungary so I am so happy to have done it now. There is always pressure on me to win, whatever the competition, but to do it in my home country makes me proud.”
Aleksander Lesun of Russia and Robert Kasza played their part in a sublime race but could not match Marosi for speed in the ultimate stages of a gripping race. They had to settle for the silver and bronze medals respectively.
After a Ukrainian one-two in the fence, Pavlo Tymoshchenko ended his day fourth overall but Dmytro Kirpulyanskyy, who started the combined in pole, struggled at the range and finished 15th.
Teammates Christopher Patte and Valentin Prades confirmed France’s status as one of Modern Pentathlon’s top nations after crossing the finish line in 5th and 6th. The fastest time in the combined saw Nicola Benedetti of Italy make his way up from 21st on the combined starting grid to claim 7th place.
Chinese revelation Jianli Guo was 8th with Stefan Kollner of Germany 9th and World No.1 Justinas Kinderis making up the top 10. Chile recorded their best ever finish at an international Modern Pentathlon competition as Esteban Bustos came 11th.
The day fastest swimmer, Woojin Hwang, struggled in the the ride and was out of the reckoning and finished 32nd.
Monday 5 May sees the competition came to close with the 16 nations battling it out in the Mixed Relay.
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