Melanie McCann and team mate Donna Vakalis.
Former South Huron District High School student Melanie McCann placed 11th in the women’s modern pentathlon at the London 2012 Olympic Games today.
Canadian Olympic Team athletes McCann, 22, and Toronto’s Donna Vakalis competed in four sports that make up the pentathlon: fencing, swimming, riding and combined cross country running and pistol shooting.
McCann was ranked 13th at the end of the riding event, as she headed into the combined final event. The athlete with the most points out of the 36 women entered is the one to start first, with the remaining athletes starting in a staggered order determined by one-second intervals for every four point difference. As a result, the first woman out of the gate had a 32-second head start on McCann.
The first athlete to finish the shoot/run wins the overall pentathlon competition.
McCann, who was born in Clinton and grew up in Mount Carmel, accumulated a total 5,180 points to earn her final 11th place showing. Vakalis finished 31st.
McCann qualified for the Olympics games after a 4th place finish the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
McCann, who now lives in Ottawa, started competing in modern pentathlon in 2004 and within four years she cracked the top-30 in the world junior championships.
She is coached by Team Canada national coach John Hawes, who has been involved in modern pentathlon and swimming as an athlete, instructor, coach, and administrator for over 45 years
She attended South Huron District High School for Grades 9 and 10.
2 Comments on "McCann ranks 11th in Olympic modern pentathlon"
Congratulations Melanie! Well done!
Congratulations melanie you were so are awesome. And I enjoyed watching you very much . Keep up the great work .