Schoneborn hangs on in modern pentathlon

German woman captures gold medal despite poor showing in 3,000-metre run

Medal favourite Lena Schoneborn of Germany overcame a ninth-place finish in the 3,000-metre run to win gold in the women's modern pentathlon Friday at the Beijing Olympics with 5,792 points.

The 2007 world silver medallist stood first entering the 3,000 — the final event — after a 10th-place performance in swimming and fourth-place standing in equestrian show jumping.

Earlier in the day, Schoneborn was 20th in the 10-metre air pistol before making up ground as the top finisher in fencing.

Heather Fell of Britain rode top-five finishes in swimming (third) and running (fifth) to capture the silver medal with 5,752 points, while Victoria Tereshuk of Ukraine was third (5,672).

Monica Pinette of Langley, B.C., kicked off Friday's competition with a second-place effort in shooting but dropped to 27th overall in the field of 36 with 5,192 points.

The 31-year-old narrowly missed a first-place finish in shooting, firing a score of 187 compared to the 188 by Switzerland's Belinda Schreiber.

Pinette fell in the standings after placing 33rd in fencing and 34th in swimming. She was also 14th in show jumping and 27th in running.

Kara Grant

Teammate Kara Grant of Charlottetown, P.E.I., placed 31st overall. The 29-year-old finished 16th in the shooting event, 25th in fencing, 36th in the 200-metre freestyle swim, 25th in show-jumping and 31st in the 3,000 run.

World No. 1 Amelie Caze of France was ninth overall. She finished second in the swim, fifth in the fencing, 22nd in shooting, 16th in show jumping and ninth in running.