Young Ashbourne pentathlete aiming for London 2012

A young Meath student, who is currently competing in the Modern Pentathlon World Cup, is aiming to compete in the London Olympics. Ashbourne's Natalia Coyle is currently competing in World Cup events around the globe and already this year has been in competition in Mexico, Berlin and Portugal. She is currently ranked 24th in the world in the modern pentathlon and took 14th place in the most recent event in Portugal. The 19 year-old trains hard for this gruelling sport, which entails running, swimming, riding, fencing and shooting. She received the Pentathlete of the Year Award this year. At 19, she is much younger than most of her competitors, who are aged from around 22 years upwards. She is also the youngest girl on the Irish fencing team. Natalia has just finished her first year studying business economics and social science at Trinity College, Dublin. As well as keeping up with her studies, she swims for 28 hours a week, runs 5km per session and also trains for riding, shooting and fencing. She is a daughter of Ray Coyle, chief executive of Largo Foods in Ashbourne, and his wife, Ros.