Release: Pentathlon Team Announced For Youth Olympic Games
July 26, 2014
CANADIAN PENTATHLON ATHLETE NOMINATED TO COMPETE AT THE NANJING 2014 YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES
CALGARY – Pentathlon Canada is proud to announce that Kali Sayers of Calgary, Alberta has been nominated to represent Canada at the 2014 Youth Olympics Games in Nanjing, China from August 16th – 28th. Kali Sayers will be competing in the Women’s Modern Pentathlon which will take place on August 22nd and 23rd.
All attending athletes in the Modern Pentathlon competition will also take part in a Mixed Relay on August 26th where they will be randomly partnered with athletes of the opposite gender from another country for that day of competition. This is in line with the strong cultural mandate of the Youth Olympic Games.
Kali Sayers, 18, will be Canada’s first representative to qualify to compete at the Summer Youth Olympic Games, the first of which took place in Singapore in 2010. Kali will be accompanied by coach Jane Rusconi.
Kail is a four time Canadian National Champion in her age group (18 and Under) as well as winning the US Youth Nationals in her age group twice previously. She has represented Canada twice at Youth World Championships. Working under a tight timeline, having sustaining an unfortunate ankle injury in May, Kali’s goal is to be within the top 10 at the upcoming competition.
Participating at the Youth Olympics has been a prioritized goal for Kali for the past year where she managed Canada-best performances in all three key qualification and ranking events to achieve selection – Youth Olympic Qualifier, Acapulco, Mexico in December 2013, International Youth Classic, Colorado Springs in April followed by Youth World Championships in May 2014.
“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to represent Canada on the international stage at the Youth Olympics. It is an honour to represent my country and to be the first pentathlete at the Youth Olympics for Canada. Of course, this wouldn’t have had a chance of happening if not for the help of many incredible people.”, says Sayers. “Nanjing here I come!”
Modern Pentathlon has been an Olympic sport since 1912 with women competing at the Olympic level for first time in Sydney in 2000. Penathlon consists of five sports completed within four events – fencing, swimming, equestrian riding, and combined event (running and pistol shooting). At the youth level the equestrian component is not included internationally for safety reasons so athletes at the Youth Olympics will be contesting the fencing, swimming and combined event only. Pentathlon will be part of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games including Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Relay events.
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Pentathlon Canada:
Shaun LaGrange, President
Tel: 514-940-3721
Email: president@pentathloncanada.ca
Canadian Olympic Committee:
Jane Almeida, Senior Manager, Media Relations
Tel: 416-324-4120
Cell: 416-540-1788
Email: jalmeida@olympic.ca
Luc Beaudin, Coordinator, Communications and Media Relations
Cell: 514 206-6720
Email: lbeaudin@olympic.ca