Ireland's Natalya Coyle finished 24th overall in the women's Modern Pentathlon but will be left with huge frustration after a desperately unlucky draw in the showjumping.
The three-time Olympian had been well in medal contention heading into the penultimate round of the contest before a disastrous score of 234 in the showjumping saw her drop down to 19th place.
Coyle's horse Constantin - who had been randomly assigned to her - refused a number of hurdles that effectively ended the Meath woman's medal hopes. The horse in question also proved troublesome for Uzbekistan's Alise Fakhrutdinova, who was left with a score of 226 out of 300.
However, Coyle wasn't the only top contender left to suffer the luck of the draw; Germany's Annika Schleu had been in medal contention before her horse Saint Boy refused to ride, leaving Schleu in tears, as she dropped to 31st overall.
We see a lot of triumph at the #Olympics but there's so much tragedy.
Annika Schleu will likely see her #ModernPentathlon gold medal slip after her horse refused several times before abandoning in "an absolute real-life nightmare".#Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/V9bLv482yv— Gus Bruno (@gusbruno7) August 6, 2021
The showjumping round left Coyle just over a minute off the lead ahead of the laser run, where she ultimately finished in 24th place overall, crossing the line just over two minutes behind the eventual winner Kate French of Team GB. Lithuania's Laura Asadauskaite in second and Hungary's Michelle Gulyas taking bronze.
It brought an end to what had been an otherwise excellent showing from the 31-year-old Coyle, who had been targeting a medal after top-10 finishes at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Indeed are proud to support Team Ireland at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Indeed believes the world works better when people are given every opportunity to unleash their true talents. #TalentUnleashed
