Kate French wins gold in women's Modern Pentathlon

Olympic gold medalist in the women's modern pentathlon: Kate French of Great Britain. 

For the first time since the 2000 Sydney games, Great Britain had a champion in the women’s pentathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Friday night. Kate French came through strong in the laser run to overtake the leaders from the equestrian and win the gold medal at Tokyo Stadium. Laura Asadausakaite won the silver, and Sarolta Kovacs of Hungary, who set an Olympic Record in swimming took bronze. 

Sarolta Kovacs in the pool, who set an Olympic record in the modern pentathlon competition. 

The women opened day two with swimming 200 meters in six heats of six swimmers, which determined new leaders after the first event. With the fastest times earning the most points, Gulnaz Gubaydullina from the ROC broke the Olympic record that was set with a 2:07.31. She took the lead with 296 points, with Michelle Gulyas alongside her for first place. World record holder Elodie Clouvel of France finished with a 2:07.51 earning her 295 points. Annika Schleu of Germany didn’t have the best swim. ending back in 15^th. 

The pentathletes moved into the bonus round of fencing with an opportunity to gain extra points before the third event. The 36^th ranked pentathlete would face the 35^th ranked pentathlete to advance and face the next higher-ranked fencer until the number one-ranked pentathlete competed. When it came down to the last two fencers, it was Schleu and Sehee Kim of South Korea left to go. The Korean took the win and remained the last competitor standing.

They went into the equestrian show jumping, with Lithuania going first and second scoring 300 points. Kim earned 285 points having 14 obstacle penalties but no time penalty. Coming with the victory that put her out front was Uliana Batashova from the ROC, who scored 293 points and accumulated 820 for the sole lead. In second was Kim with 810 and Kovacs with 809. 

With just 11 points separating first through third, the laser run came down to who would walk away with a medal. Rain fell inside the stadium that delayed the start for 15 minutes. Points determined the delay between the leader and the rest of the field. Batashova had a 10-second start on Kim, but once they went into the first shoot, it was Kim that missed a shot that led French following Kovacs and Batashova. 

Kate French of Great Britain finished first in the laser run to win the gold medal in the women's modern pentathlon. 

The three succeeded in the second shoot with Kim losing out once again. French began to open the gap on the other two with a perfect shoot. She came into the third 50 meters ahead and left with a clean five for five and successfully lapped Brazil’s Ieda Guimaraes soon after. The Brit had a 15-meter lead and when she came into the final shoot, she again went five for five with 800 meters left to run. She had a 17 second lead on Kovacs and Asadausakaite, keeping her gap big that brought the gold. The Lithuanian had enough gas to push ahead of Kovacs and secure the silver medal with the Hungarian holding well for the bronze.  

It was a second medal for Asadausakaite, who won the gold nine years ago in London, being more than pleased to get a silver medal as her second individual medal.