UIPM 2015 World Cup #3 - Pavlo Tymoshchenko wins in Rome

ROME, 11 APRIL 2015 - Pavlo Tymoshchenko (Ukraine) claimed gold in the third leg of the 2015 UIPM World Cup series in Rome after another dramatic day on the Road to Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Robert Kasza (Hungary) took the silver medal and, to the delight of the home crowd, Pierpaolo Petroni (Italy) fought off a late challenge from Kasza's compatriot Adam Marosi to secure bronze.

Tymoshchenko (UKR), who was silver medallist at the 2014 World Cup Final in Sarasota, competed with great purpose and determination to move up from 10th position at the beginning of the Combined Event and finish 8 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

The tall 28-year-old made his way seamlessly through the field as Han Jiahao (China) let his lead slip between the 2nd and 3rd shooting ranges.

The more experienced European athletes had Han (CHN) in their sights and when he became engulfed and overtaken by the pack, it was Tymoshchenko (UKR) who strode to the front.

With his upright running style, the 1.90m man from Kiev cut an impressive figure as he moved clear in his yellow vest with such conviction that he never had to look back.

Behind him, there was a fascinating battle for silver and bronze fought out between the Hungarian duo and the local hero, all of whom finished within two seconds of each other.

When Kasza (HUN) took advantage of the tiring legs of Petroni (ITA) on the final running circuit, the locals must have feared the worst but their wishes came true when Petroni found the stamina to deny Marosi (HUN) the final berth on the podium.

But for Marosi (HUN), it was a tough result to take as he had been in 1st place for most of the day and entered the Combined Event in 2nd place.

As a delighted Tymoshchenko (UKR) accepted congratulations from all around him, Petroni (ITA) was embraced by his coaches and trainers team with the cheers of a partisan crowd - including 300 Italian children who had participated in the Young National Trophy (Biathle) before the Combined Event - ringing in his ears.

"I am very happy," said Tymoshchenko (UKR) after receiving his gold medal. "I thought that Petroni would be able to run at the same speed as me, but my shooting was strong and the last series was an important moment. I tried to focus, and I have done it.

"Before the World Cup Final I think I will go to Hungary for World Cup #4, but there are so many tournaments this year. Everyone is competing really hard."

Kasza (HUN) said after receiving his silver medal: "It was a crazy gladiator fight. I thought my fencing was more than enough to win, but Adam my team-mate is also very good at fencing.

"After a hard swim, I drew a horse that is amazingly good and so sophisticated, and I couldn't ride as well as I wanted.  I dropped more than 40 seconds and after the second shoot I really didn't know that I could win a medal.

"After the last shoot, I saw that Pierpaolo was not running so well and my last 400m is really strong - I trained very hard on that last season and I knew that I could do it.

"Kecszemet is a really beautiful place and I hope World Cup #4 will be as good as this World Cup in Rome, where the stadium is so amazing I could hardly believe I was here."

Dr Klaus Schormann, President of UIPM, said: "It was the same as yesterday, with the lead changing hands so many times, and this is why we can say that our sport is so exciting.

"You cannot calculate who will be the winner, but there is a group at the top and they have shown today that in high-performance terms our sport is very strong, and the spectators love it more and more.

"Many of the coaches and trainers have said this was a great, great final today and I would like to thanks to the athletes who have been well prepared. Also everything was organised very well and we have the best people on the podium, including an Italian - here in Italy this is very important and will help us with the movement in Italy."

Marosi (HUN) had started the day strongly with a haul of 24 victories in Fencing, matching the top score of Aleix Heredia Vives (Spain). Marosi (HUN) took the outright lead after the Swimming, where the best 200m performance (1min 59.27sec) came from Joseph Evans (Great Britain).

Only two competitors managed a perfect score of 300 in Riding, Thomas Toolis (GBR) and Szymon Staskiewicz (Poland), but Han (CHN) continued his consistently excellent day with a score of 295 that made him first to embark on the Combined Event.

There, as we are seeing increasingly often in the rarefied competition of elite Modern Pentathlon, form in the previous three events counted for little as the picture changed dramatically.

The elite men will do battle once more at World Cup #4 in Kecszemet (HUN) from April 30 to May 4, before the Final brings the 2015 series to a close in Minsk, Belarus from June 11-14.

World Cup #3 in Rome ends with the Mix Relay on Monday, April 13.