Coyle in excellent start as the quest for glory picks up pace

Meath's Natalya Coyle made an excellent start today to her quest for Olympic glory. She lies in third place in the modern pentathlon after the fencing round.

Coyle racked up 23 victories while suffering just 12 defeats to amass a total of 238 points.

"I was really consistent and I'm absolutely buzzing after that," Coyle told RTE Sport afterwards.

Other events in the pentathlon continue tomorrow and Coyle will be hoping to continue her fine form with all in Skyne and elsewhere hoping she can achieve success.

Annika Schleu of Germany put in a remarkable performance to record 29 victories and six defeats to claim the early initiative at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, with South Korea's Kim Se-hee second after registering 24 victories and 11 defeats.

Coyle, who finished ninth overall at London 2012 and sixth at Rio 2016, returns to action at 6.48am Irish time in the 200m freestyle swimming event, with a second round of fencing, show jumping and an individual laser run concluding the competition later in the morning.

"We've a good bit of rest now. Tomorrow I get to fence again and I'm really confident in my physicals. They've been really good and I've done some consistent training. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow."