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We caught up with Aleix Heredia from Spain and America’s Nathan Schrimsher at the fourth World Cup event in the 2011 Modern Pentathlon series in Chengdu, China last month.
Speaking about how the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games prepared him for the step up to the senior competition, Nathan, 19, said: “It was an amazing time, I think about it every day. It got me prepared for getting on that huge world stage and dealing with lots of cameras, so I’m used to that now.”
The athletes, both 19-years-old, agreed that the biggest difference from the junior level has been the standard of fencing, but that hasn’t put them off aiming for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“It’s difficult but it’s possible,” says Aleix, who has now performed in three World Cups. “I always say nothing is impossible. We will try at the European Championships (July-August, Gillingham, UK) and let’s see what happens. Anything can happen there.”
Nathan, who has competed in two World Cup events, added: “I like to take every day one day at a time… but London 2012 would be a really neat goal so we will see.”
Another pentathlete going from strength to strength is Russian Ilya Shugarov, who made a remarkable senior debut at the Kremlin Cup this weekend finishing in 9th place. The 18-year-old claimed silver in Singapore.
Check out the full interviews exclusively on UIPM’s You Tube Station:
