Italy won silver in the men’s Madison cycling and bronze in the modern pentathlon at the Paris Olympics Saturday night. Italy will remain in 10th place in the Olympic medal table.
A top ten place is assured for Italy who sit in tenth place in the Olympic medal table with 39 medals – 11 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze.
Adding to the medal tally yesterday were the men’s madison team, and Giorgio Malan took bronze in the modern pentathlon.
Today, Italy’s women’s volleyball team are going for gold in the final match against the USA.
Silver for Men’s Madison Pairing
In the track cycling event, Elia Viviani and Simone Consonni secured a silver medal, with Portugal taking gold and Denmark earning bronze.
The Italian duo of Simone Consonni and Elia Viviani, along with Denmark’s Niklas Larsen and Michael Moerkoev, emerged as the primary challengers to Portugal’s Oliveira and Leitao, as both pairs managed to gain a lap on the peloton.
With 50 laps remaining, the race became chaotic, with multiple groups of riders pursuing different goals. However, all three leading teams avoided losing a lap on the peloton, putting them in strong contention for a medal.
Disaster struck for Italy’s Consonni and Viviani when they tumbled off the track during a failed hand sling with fewer than 30 laps to go. They quickly remounted and rejoined the peloton, but not before Oliveira and Leitao launched an attack, gaining a decisive lap on the peloton.
As the final sprint approached, Italy, Portugal, and Denmark were separated by only four points. Denmark pushed the pace at the front, trying to drop the Italian and Portuguese riders, but Leitao powered past them to secure victory for Portugal, overtaking the German pair of Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt.
Italy’s Consonni and Viviani couldn’t match Portugal’s pace in the final laps. Exhausted and bruised from their crash, they finished with 47 points, earning the silver medal. The Danish pair of Larsen and Moerkoev, defending their team’s gold from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, ended with 41 points, taking the bronze.
Bronze in the Men’s Modern Pentathlon
Giorgio Malan claimed bronze in the modern pentathlon, with Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy setting a new world record to win gold, and Japan’s Taishu Sato taking silver.
Malan scored 1,536 points, earning Italy’s first modern pentathlon medal since the Seoul 1988 Olympics. “The laser run was very hard,” said Malan. “All are very good, and I had to try to reach my highest limits. The last shooting, I did (well). I gave it all the last lap, and it was enough for bronze.”
Defending Olympic champion Joe Choong of Great Britain struggled in the fencing portion, leaving him too much to do in the final laser run, where he finished ninth with 1,519 points.
Elgendy, who had promised to win Olympic gold after taking silver in Tokyo, delivered on that pledge with an almost flawless performance.
Heading into the final laser run, which consists of five 600m laps interspersed with four visits to the shooting range, Elgendy had a 50-second lead thanks to strong performances in equestrian jumping, fencing, and swimming. This lead allowed him to miss a few shots at the range and still win comfortably.
Switzerland’s Alexandre Dallenbach and Jun Woongtae of the Republic of Korea were the closest challengers, trailing the Egyptian by 17 seconds going into the laser run. However, Dallenbach faltered in the first shooting phase, finishing 14th, while Jun, who won bronze in Japan, was overtaken by Italy’s Malan and Matteo Cicinelli (1,532), who finished fifth, and Mexico’s Emiliano Hernandez, who took fourth (1,532).
