Sive Brassil picked up plenty of positives as she finished an impressive 13th place in a high quality Women’s Final at the UIPM 2022 Pentathlon World Cup Budapest on Saturday.

Brassil had progressed to her first final under Modern Pentathlon’s new format and went toe-to-toe with 17 of the best competitors in the world in the Hungarian capital and more than held her own.

With all five sports packed into 90 minutes, a solid start can be imperative and Brassil burst out of the gates with a brilliant performance in the Riding discipline. The Galway native was faultless around the course aboard Chellana and picked up the minimum time penalty, enough to see her ranked fifth best in the Riding round.

On the eve of this week’s event, the 28-year-old had spoken of her hope to show an improved Fencing performance from the year’s first World Cup in Cairo in March and she had a brilliant Bonus Round on the piste in Friday’s semi-final to thank for making it to the decider. Unfortunately she couldn’t repeat the feat Saturday and so had to focus on making up ground in the remaining three disciplines.

Brassil had enjoyed strong performances all week in the pool and Saturday was no different as she ranked in the 10 fastest performers in a time of 2:16.87. As the action moved to the combined Laser Run, the intensive demands of the week could have taken its toll but Brassil made light of them as she finished 11th fastest in a time of 12:03.30. Her final score of 1348 points saw her finish 13th overall, less than 20 points off a top 10 finish.

There was joy for the host nation as Michelle Gulyas took the gold medal with Italy’s Elena Micheli in second and Egyptian Salma Abdelmaksoud claiming bronze.

With Brassil’s maiden Final of the campaign coupled with young Cork competitor Hanna D’Aughton making her senior World Cup debut in Budapest, this has been a hugely promising week in Hungary for the Irish contingent.

The 2022 UIPM World Cup moves on to Bulgaria next where the third leg of the season takes place in the city of Albena from May 10-15.

For more information please contact info@pentathlon.ie.