Ireland’s Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe won the Mixed Relay gold at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup in Sarasota, Florida on Sunday night.
They produced a superb performance in the Combined event win to come home champions to go one better than the silver medal they won last year.
It was an especially satisfying triumph for the Irish because they were beaten to gold then by Belarus, whose team of Katsiaryna Arol and Mikalai Hayanouski were made to settle for silver this time around by the duo in green vests.
“We feel pretty good,” said Coyle. “Last year we had three silvers in World Cups so we were pretty damn hungry coming into this one and we’re delighted.
“I love the Mixed Relay, I think it’s fantastic to watch because it’s male and female and it’s such a different tempo. It’s a great asset.”
Lanigan-O’Keeffe added: “I train closely with Natalya all year round so it’s great to compete together and we are a great team. Wherever one of us has a shortfall, the other seems to find an answer. So it’s a great event for us.”
World Cup final Mixed Relay final standings
1 Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe & Natalya Coyle IRL1495
2 Katsiaryna Arol & Mikalai Hayanouski BLR 1480
3 Pavlo Tymoschenko & Valeriya Permykina UKR 1478
4 Jorge Inzunza & Tamara Vega MEX 1477
5 Sebastian Stasiak & Anna Maliszewska POL 1416
6 Logan Storie & Samantha Achterberg USA 1405
7 Leandro Silva & Ayelen Zapata ARG 1386
8 Pavel Ilyashenko & Elena Potapenko KAZ 549
