Pentathlon champ on target

BALLARAT Grammar student Zoe Addinsall has been named female under twenty-one Australian modern pentathlon champion.

Aged 15, Addinsall completed a full pentathlon of running, swimming, shooting, horse riding and sword fencing in a higher junior age group at the comp at Caulfield Grammar recently.

“The competition was challenging,” she said. “I swam and ran with all of the seniors who are trying to get selected for the Olympics, so it was good to push myself against them.

“I was very happy with the result.”

Addinsall’s training schedule includes running five times a week with her running coach, swimming as often as she can, shooting practice every morning in the boarding house, and fencing on the weekends.

She is working towards the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne 2023 Pentathlon and Laser Run World Championships in Bath, England in August.

“I’m also going to go to Cairo in Egypt for the Olympic trials,” Addinsall said. “I won’t get selected because there are three other Australians in their 20s who are more experienced.

“But my aim is to go and do the best I can. It will be a good opportunity.

“I’ve never been to pentathlon overseas, other than New Zealand, so I feel it will be a lot tougher, but I’ll just have to give it my all.”

Beyond 2024, Addinsall said she wants to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.