Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe completed an excellent competition to finish 20th in World Cup 2 in Rio. After qualifying for only his second ever final, Lanigan-O’Keeffe performed well across all five events to help keep his Olympic qualification ambitions alive.
In the fencing, Lanigan-O’Keeffe started well, outclassing many of his opponents. After one third, he had scored 8victories and just 2 defeats. In a high quality field it was difficult to maintain this scoring run but still he finished with 18victories and 17defeats for 832 points and 16th place.
Lanigan-O’Keeffe improved his over position after the swimming event where a time of 2:04.33 moved him up the leaderboard to 12th position.
Drawing a short striding horse, Lanigan-O’Keeffe produced a very accomplished round and was unfortunate as the scope of the horse meant he knocked three fences. Riding the course within the time gave him 1140 points but dropped him to 14th position.
Starting the combined run/shoot event in 14th position and 45seconds behind the overall leader. Lanigan-O’Keeffe produced an excellent shooting display missing just 2 shots in total and taking 14, 12, and 11 seconds for each of the three series. Lanigan-O’Keeffe was dogged in the running and fought hard for places on each of the three one kilometer laps.
For Lanigan-O’Keeffe, his 20th position today, along with his 25th position in World Cup 1 USA last week, will give him a good chance at qualifying for the World Cup final which will be held in May in China. Both World Cup results will be a boost to his ranking position for the Olympic qualification but the World Cup Final and the World Championships in May will have higher ranking points on offer.
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