Judith Faherty

The last of the Irish athletes with an equestrian element to their Olympic Games finished on a high as both Natalya Coyle and Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe jumped superb clear show jumping rounds to finish in the top 10 of the modern pentathlon in Rio de Janeiro.

Co Meath’s Natalya Coyle (25) improved on her ninth place in London to finish seventh in the women’s division.

She lay in 12th place after the opening fencing session, and won 19 of her 36 contests in the second session.

Coyle posted a personal best in the swimming phase before going on to jump one of only five clear rounds in the show jumping arena.

borrowed horse

Riding a borrowed horse, an American-bred called Christino, she earned the maximum 300 points from the equestrian phase, which was jumped over 12 fences at 1.20m, to leave her in sixth place going into the final shooting and running round, where Coyle finished 47 seconds behind Australian winner Chloe Esposito.

Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe (24) also improved on his London result, where he placed 25th, to finish eighth in the men’s competition.

A clear show jumping round, one of just six on course, on another unknown horse called Equador Itapua boosted his chances and left him in 15th place entering the final phase, the combined cross country running and shooting. Another strong performance saw the Kilkenny man finish the Games in eighth place.

Speaking to The Irish Field, show jumping manager at the Games, John Ledigham said: “Natalya and Arthur are two fantastic athletes, incredibly focused and they work hard.

“I worked with them in London and it was brilliant to see them improve on their scores from 2012.”

Ledigham, who also works with the athletes at home, alongside Brian Duff in Broadmeadows, added that the riders only have about 10 minutes to familiarise themselves with their mounts before entering the ring.

“The coaches get to watch the horses jump with their own riders on Wednesday, and from that 18 horses are selected for the 36 competitors, meaning each horse goes twice. The draw for horses is done about half an hour before the show jumping round,” he said.

“It’s a credit to their pony club background and their focus, they were preparing for this for a long time. Natalya and Arthur are two lovely focused professionals and it is a pleasure to work with them.”