Isaksen just short of medal

Margaux Isaksen of Fayetteville finished fourth overall in the women’s modern penthathlon on Sunday at the Olympic Games in London.
Margaux Isaksen of Fayetteville finished fourth overall in the women’s modern penthathlon on Sunday at the Olympic Games in London.

— Fayetteville’s Margaux Isaksen served notice Sunday that she should be the favorite to medal in modern pentathlon competition at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Isaksen, 20, finished fourth in the London modern pentathlon, just eight points away from securing the bronze, despite struggling earlier this year with mononucleosis. She made a spirited rally in the final event, which combined running and shooting.

After the competition, Isaksen, who turned in the best Olympic result by an American athlete in the modern pentathlon, said her finish was “bittersweet.” She had recently suffered a broken wrist, which also hampered her training. Isaksen is a resident at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“I wasn’t able to train for the first four months of the year and running is my best event,” Isaksen said. “I was so close to a medal. You can also say, what if ? But my swimming was a few seconds slower and my running was significantly slower than what I hoped for.

“I was really hoping I could bring back a medal for the U.S.,” Isaksen said. “I have to settle for fourth this time and hopefully I get on in Rio.”

Isaksen got off to a good start when she won 22 of her 35 fencing bouts to share fourth place. But she finished 16th in swimming, 23rd in riding and fourth in the combined event of running and shooting.

Isaksen competed in the 2008 Beijing Games as a 16-year-old. She finished 21st.

Isaksen was ranked 39th in the Women’s Olympic Rankings by the International Modern Pentathlon Union. She qualified for the London Games after winning a gold medal at the Pan American Games in 2011.

Lithuania’s Laura Asadauskaite won the gold medal with an Olympic record score of 5,408. Samantha Murray of Great Britain won silver, and Brazil’s Yane Marques claimed the bronze with 5,340 points, just eight points ahead of Isaksen’s 5,332.

Asadauskaite’s husband Andrejus Zadneprovskis won silver in modern pentathlon in 2004 and bronze four years later.

“He really helps me out in our daily life,” Asadauskaite said. “With our child and also with my training.”

Asadauskaite stopped her run at the final event just before the finish line. Then she moved across very slowly, as if she wanted to savor the actual moment of winning the missing medal as long as possible.

She threw her arms in the air and finished her race 3 1/2 seconds ahead of her rivals.

Asadauskaite and Marques were tied for the lead going into the combined event of running and shooting.

Marques was five for five to take a 10-second lead after the first round of shooting, but Asadauskaite ran the 1-kilometer lap faster and overtook the Brazilian just before the second shooting round.

Marques then lost silver when she was caught by Britain’s Samantha Murray, who was loudly cheered by the home crowd of 22,000.

Suzanne Stettinius, from Dallas, finished 28th.

Information for this article was contributed by the Colorado Springs (Colo.) Gazette and The Associated Press.

Sports, Pages 13 on 08/13/2012

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