Thursday 18 November 2010

Veterans of the year - Men

Last post was about the rookies, this will be about the veterans. Sorry for those who are in a "limbo age", but here I'm going for the top and bottom ages. Of course I will write similar posts for the ladies later, I'm not forgetting them.

So if the criterias are age and ranking, how could we miss Edvinas Krungolcas? Born in 1973 in the former USSR, Krungolcas is still very competitive - and there are very few active pentathletes left at this age, even less in such a high level. I think there's no answer for the question "are the rookies being favoured by the recent changes in the sport?". Even because the changes (combined event), that are so recent, affected everyone, regarding veterans some may use their experience and have no trouble adapting, while others are having troubles despite their experience . Krungolcas would be here to show that not, but also he's not a regular pentathlete, he's been at the top for many years. Krungolcas is currently ranked #8 and this season he won a World Cup (WC2 - Egypt), was fifth at the most important competition of the year, the Senior World Championships (Chengdu, China) and finished 5th in WC5 (Germany) and 9th at WC4 (Hungary). Check the link at the bottom of this post to have an idea about his succesfull career (and from the other pentathletes mentioned in this post).

His countryman Andrejus Zadneprovskis, born in 1974 in the former USSR, is another veteran who is still very competitive, finishing the year in a respectable 13th position in the ranking. If you have a closer look , comparing with past years, would you dare to say he's decadent? Of course not. You would expect him to be retired by now. But he's not, and he's still at the top. Zadneprovskis grabbed two medals in World Cups this year, was second at the strong WC4 (Hungary) and third at WC1 (Mexico). He also finished in the top 10 in other two competitions (10th at European Championships in Hungary, and 8th at WC5 - Germany). Krungolcas and Zadneprovskis are legend/hall of fame material.

Michal Sedlecky, from Czech Republic, is also in this list of amazing veterans who keep impressing us. Unlike the Lithuanians, Sedlecky didn't stay in the top for so many years, but is a former world champion. This year Sedlecky finished in 10th position at Senior World Championships and in 9th at European Championships, leaving a lot of younger and tallented pentathletes behind. Sedlecky climbed in the rankings this year up to 21th position, closer to the top where he once belonged. Michal is quite younger than Krungolcas and Zadneprovskis, he was born in 1979, but fits for this list.

This list could be different if some didn't retire or weren't struggling against injuries/healthy problems or having problems to adapt to the new format. Anyway, the 70's generation is very well represented.

Check more about the veterans at the decade review: http://pentathloncircuit.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html

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