Coyle still in the hunt for Olympic qualification

Tara's Natalya Coyle has been in inspirational form over the last couple of months as she bids for a place at the London 2012 Olympics. The Meath woman helped Ireland to fifth position at the Pentathlon World Cup event in Italy and then secured her place at the World Cup final, which will be held in London on the 10th July, with a fine display in Cheng Du, China last week. In Italy Coyle and Eanna Bailey went into the final event, the combined run/shoot discipline, in eighth position, just 37 seconds behind the leading team. The exciting race saw the medal positions change dramatically on each lap, the Irish duo held their nerve on the shooting range and backed it up with competitive running performances which put Bailey in contention for the bronze medal on the last lap. However, he lost out to the German. The total time for Coyle and Bailey in the combined event was 14:59.28 and was the fastest of all the teams. In addition, the total time that the they spent on the shooting range was just 69 seconds, 12 seconds quicker than the second fastest team, China who won the gold medal, while the Irish pair finished fifth. As a result of the points she received after getting through to the finals in both Palm Springs and Cheng Du, Coyle has qualified for the World Cup final in London. This will be the first competition where athletes can gain Olympic qualifying points. Coyle was lying 40th in the World rankings after the Cheng Du event, but only three athletes from each country can go forward to the final. Four athletes from countries that already had three qualified had to drop out and Coyle secured her place as first reserve. There are a number of different ways in which Coyle can secure her place at next year's Olympic Games in London. She can advance through an official Olympic qualification competition or she can win next month's World Cup final in London. Other ways to secure that coveted place are to achieve a ranking in the top three at the World Championships, finish in the top eight at the European championships or be a top three ranked athlete at the 2012 World Championships. Coyle can also secure her Olympic berth through the Pentathlon World Rankings (PWR). Places will be allocated to top ranked athletes on the PWR who have not previously qualified in an Olympic qualification spot. An athlete's three best performances from 1st June 2011 to 31st May 2012 will be used for the PWR. Only two athletes per nation can compete at the Olympic Games so where nations qualify more than two athletes, extra places will be awarded via the PWR qualification system. Athletes will gain ranking points based on their final positions in competitions. The World Cup final and World Championships are worth the most ranking points with the winner receiving 80 points. World Cups and other major championships can earn the winner 60 points while other international competitions offer 40 points. Coyle faces a difficult challenge to secure her place at London 2012, but at the moment she is in a great position.