Rio de Janeiro and the 2016 Olympic Games beckon for Italy’s Riccardo De Luca and Lithuania’s Laura Asadauskaite after they were crowned Individual Modern Pentathlon World Cup Champions in the men’s and women’s competitions respectively in Minsk, Belarus, this weekend. Confirmation was published on International Federation website. The two pentathletes join 12 others already qualified for the Rio 2016 Games. (Follow the race to qualify for Rio 2016 here)

The men’s competition, on Saturday (13 June), turned out to be a day of dramatic competition and unexpected results. Winner Riccardo de Luca pulled off a spectacular turnaround in the combined event, coming from behind to triumph over the favourites Pavlo Tymoshchencko (Ukraine), Ilia Frolov (Russia) and Valentin Belaud (France). The Ukranian Tymoshchenko took silver and bronze went to the outside chance, Pavel Ilyashenko, from Kazakhstan, ranked No.21 in the world.

There were fewer surprises in Sunday’s women’s competition, with the favourite Laura Asadauskaite (Lithuania), winning World Cup gold and the chance to defend her Olympic title at next summer's Olympic Games in Rio. Italy’s Gloria Tocchi, who was never out of the top two for the women’s competition, took silver, and Australian Chloe Esposito, who qualified for Rio 2016 earlier this month at the Asia-Oceania Championship, performed well in the combined event to take bronze.

The male champion, De Luca, said, “I am very proud of myself. I have worked very hard and I am getting better all the time and to know that I am not only the World Cup final winner, but I have also qualified for the Olympics is such a wonderful feeling.”

He explained, “I changed some things about my approach to the combined event at the start of the season and now I am better and I had a good competition. I am very, very happy.”

The Italian was ahead of the field after a strong opening fencing event, but he slipped back to sixth place overall after a disappointing performance in the swimming, only to move back up to third after the riding event where he laid the ground for his thrilling comeback.

As the combined running and shooting event got underway, De Luca was up against the overall leader, Egypt’s Amro el Geziry, who had a narrow three second start over him, and second placed Pavlo Tymoshchencko (Ukraine). But the real drama unfolded in the final moments of the combined event with De Luca and Tymoshchenko neck-and-neck going into the final running loop. The Italian won out in the end in a thrilling display of sheer strength and determination, crossing the finishing line first and claiming his ticket to the Olympic Games.

For the women, Laura Asadauskaite was also delighted with her win: “I am very happy today, it is a great day … I didn’t feel 100% in the combined event, but I am very happy to win and to know I am going to Rio next summer. As defending Olympic champion it is an honour to be able to go back and defend my title and I can now prepare for that.”

Solid performances in the fencing, swimming and riding saw Asadauskaite hold third place through the first three events. Going into the combined event, she had just a seven second handicap behind the overall leader and eventual silver medallist, Italian Gloria Tocchi. Asadauskaite’s strong start in the first loop saw her catch Tocchi early on and she kept hold of the lead right up to the finishing line, with the Italian coming in close second.

More qualifiers in sight

On 28 June, the World Championships kick off in Berlin (Germany) with six Olympic places up for grabs, (three per gender), to be distributed to the best placed athletes not already qualified for Rio 2016. Shortly afterwards, the Pan-American Games will be held in Toronto, Canada, from 10-26 July. From here, a further 10 athletes will be chosen for the Games (five women and five men). The places will be awarded to the three overall best-placed athletes in the competition, plus the top-placed athlete from South America and the same from North and Central America, limited to one spot per gender per country.

How it works

Inspired by the skills required in the military, the pentathlon first took place in the ancient Olympics in 708 BC. The "modern" in the name refers to the innovations brought by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern era of the Games.

The race begins with a qualifying round of fencing. Then the athletes compete in five disciplines in a single day, accumulating points in each of them. The first event is a 200m freestyle swimming race, followed by another round of fencing, where victory ensures another point. Competitors must then ride a course of 12 obstacles over a distance of 300-400 meters on horseback.

The combined results of these three events decides the order in which competitors are released for the final leg of the competition – a combined running and shooting phase, which consists of an 800m race including four laps of running interspersed with stops in a firing range. The winner is the first athlete to complete the running and shooting phase.

Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.