Devastating home Games letdown for pentathlete

By Dan Plouffe

From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, Melanie McCann’s Pan Am Games were a total whirlwind. The 25-year-old has been through a great number of modern pentathlons in her career now, but Toronto 2015 showed her about the widest range of emotions possible in her five-sports-in-one-day pursuit.

McCann started the day with one of the biggest smiles seen at the Games. That’s because she had quite possibly the biggest collection of family and friends out of anyone competing, all sporting their own custom-made Team McCann T-shirts.

Hundreds from her hometown of Mount Carmel and the surrounding southwestern Ontario area arrived by the busload, many having paid a premium to access tickets available internationally through a Mexican travel agent to see McCann compete in her Olympic qualifier on home soil.

She pointed her sword towards them to acknowledge their support during introductions prior to the fencing event at the Atos Markham Pan Am Centre.

“I’m just incredibly honoured to be able to represent all those people. That’s my family, my friends and my community. For them to come out, you have no idea how inspirational it is,” underlined McCann, who moved to Ottawa in 2010 to train under national team coach John Hawes. “They are my driving force, my inspiration, and the reason I’ve got so far in this sport.”

The smile didn’t last. McCann was knocked back down to reality in a hurry, suffering a terrible start to the fencing competition – usually her strongest event. The top fencer from the recent World Cup Final – against the planet’s very best – lost four of her five first bouts, hitting rock bottom with back-to-back defeats against Argentinian rivals, who were amongst the weakest fencers in the event. There were tears as she huddled with Canadian fencing coach Paul ApSimon moments later.

“I think she was a little overwhelmed by the home crowd,” reflected Ottawa’s ApSimon, who reminded his athlete of the step-by-step process she should follow and encouraged her to enjoy the day, trying to get her to relax.

Slowly McCann turned it around, ending the fencing event with a 13-8 record to pull back up to 5th place in the standings.

“She just persevered,” indicated ApSimon, stating that it was McCann’s experience that ultimately allowed her to bring it back around. “She didn’t have a great fencing day, but she finished strong. She just came off a win at the World Cup Final – against the best in the world – but she salvaged a 5th place, and our goal today is a top-5.”

McCann had a decent finish to her 200-metre freestyle swimming race next to stay in 5th – the critical placement since the top-5 nations from Pan Am Games would qualify for the Rio Olympics.

And despite the early disaster and all the nervousness, it looked like the stars were just maybe meant to align after all once McCann was done with the equestrian event. Team McCann – from her cousin’s four-week-old baby to her 67-year-old Uncle John – finally had a real big reason to scream as the Westock Farms rider made it through the show jumping course with no faults and only a fraction of a second over the allowed time to score 299 out of 300 points.

“I rode the horse perfect,” McCann signalled. “I’m very proud of that ride.”

The last event of the blistering hot day was the biathlon-style combined shooting and cross-country running event. Thanks to her performances in the earlier events, McCann took off 22 seconds before an athlete from the key #6 country.

McCann maintained her advantage over her Pan American rivals and finished 5th, but the wildcard proved to be a fellow Canadian. Donna Vakalis blazed to the fastest overall time of the combined event, overcoming a 46-second deficit to beat McCann to the finish line and claim Canada’s lone available Olympic berth from the event.

McCann wore the face of total devastation at the end of the race, gasping and gulping for air, and requiring an extended period of time to compose herself and visit her fans for a group photo.

“I knew I had some fast athletes behind me, so to give myself the best chance, I had to go for it,” explained McCann, whose pace had faded during the second half of the footrace. “I put my whole heart and my soul into it and I came up a little bit short this time, but this isn’t the end of my story.

“I’ll make it to Rio one way or another.”

There are many moving parts when it comes to the Olympic qualification picture, but McCann’s best shot at reaching Rio now comes from being high enough in world rankings. If she can hold on to a slot around her current position at #14 come next June, she should very safely qualify for the second Olympic Games of her career.

Just a short time after the crash finish, McCann could already see through the devastation and was expecting her wild Pan Am experience would serve her well in the future.

“There was battling some of the emotions, and dealing with that extra energy – that was a little bit new for me since when we go around the world on our World Cup circuit, it’s a pretty solitary experience, minus your coaches, your teammates and your competitors,” noted the London 2012 12th-place finisher. “There were times when it pushed me through, and there were also times where it made me a little bit nervous, but I think I’m a better athlete for it now.”

Stevens 13th in Games debut
In what was more of a warm-up for his Aug. 2-10 Junior World Championships in Mexico City, Ottawa-brewed modern pentathlete Garnett Stevens placed 13th of 29 in the men’s competition at the Pan Am Games.