Equestrian

Although Modern Pentathlon recently replaced the equestrian element with a Ninja-style obstacle course, Kira still loves to ride! She finds it exhilarating to trot, cantor, and jump - in the ring or on the trail. In 2021, Kira was the only Youth participant in the riding component of the regional qualifier and in 2023 she placed 3rd at the US Nationals in a stacked pool of 26 competitors - all of whom were considerably older than her. When in the Bay Area, Kira trained with the incomparable Jan Pearce of JP Training in Woodside, California.

When included in the Pentathlon, athletes would ride an unfamiliar horse over a series of 9-12 show jumps (which often included a double and a triple).

• The leading athlete after the previous disciplines draws their horse by lot.

• On the basis of this draw, the other horses (which have been previously numbered) are allocated to the other competitors.

• The athletes have just 20 minutes in the warm-up arena over five practice jumps before starting their round.

• Each athlete starts with 300 points, with points deducted for refusals (10), fences being knocked down (7), and time faults (1 per second).

• If an athlete is eliminated, they do not receive any points.