Sport

Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe wins gold at pentathlon World Cup

The Kilkenny native won a gold medal at the UIPM 2018 pentathlon World Cup in Sofi

Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe won gold in Sofia on Saturday. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho

Sat May 26 2018 - 17:11

Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe of Ireland has won gold in the men's individual final at the UIPM 2018 pentathlon World Cup in Sofia.

The 26-year-old from Kilkenny is a two-time Olympian, and in 2012 he became the first male Irish pentathlete to make it through to a World Cup final.

Silver went to world number one Jun Woongtae of Korea and Pierre Dejardin of France claimed bronze in the fourth Pentathlon World Cup of the 2018 season.

As he celebrated his first individual pentathlon World Cup medal, Lanigan-O’Keeffe said: “I was feeling pretty beaten up after the semi-final and I was worried my legs wouldn’t hold up, so I’m delighted to win. It’s a bit of an outer-body experience.

READ MORE

“To make things even better my girlfriend (Natalya Coyle) medalled yesterday and this is the first time we have won individual medals at the World Cup so it’s a great result all round.

“As you can see I’m pretty red in the face but thankfully my body held up today. We’ve come through some hard times and now the results are starting to show.

“I’ll dust off my legs, get into the plunge pool and get ready for tomorrow’s mixed relay because we mean business.”

Coyle claimed a silver medal on Friday in Sofia.

LATEST STORIES