SCHRIMSHER’S SCHEDULE

Nathan Schrimsher’s competition schedule in Rio de Janeiro for the modern pentathlon

Aug. 18

Round-robin fencing among the 36 pentathletes: Each of the competitors will face each of the others in epee matches lasting no more than a minute. The goal is to get a “touch” anywhere on the body, thus ending the duel. Seven points are awarded for each win. If no one gets a touch in the time allotted, no points are awarded.

Said Schrimsher: “I would say my normal number of touches in a competition would be about 14 or 15, but if I could get two touches over 50 percent — say 18 victories — that would be fantastic.”

Aug. 20

The 200-meter freestyle swim: With regard to points, each second gained or lost is the equivalent of two points.

The modern pentathlon’s highperformance director, Genadijus Sokolovas, has made an underwater video study of Schrimsher’s stroke and hopes to boost his speed.

“The beginning of his stroke is the primary concern right now and if he were to improve that he would drop around 2 or 3 seconds immediately,” Sokolovas said at the Training Center pool. “Everybody has flaws, though. Nobody is a fish. They’re far away from the fish. But even the fish have flaws and that’s because they don’t listen.” Bonus round of fencing: The athletes are seeded from 1 to 36 based on their points after the Aug. 18 epee competition and points earned swimming earlier on this day. The round starts off with the 36th and 35th seeds meeting in an epee match that lasts no longer than 45 seconds. One point is awarded to the winner, who moves on to face No. 34, and so forth. If there is no touch, the higher seed gets the point and advances. If the top seed wins the final match, he gets two points. Otherwise, it’s one point. Equestrian: On a show-jumping course while riding an unfamiliar horse while in formal attire, the pentathletes negotiate 15 barriers 4 feet high within a maximum window of roughly 1 minutes, 15 seconds to 1:45. The athletes get 20 minutes beforehand to acquaint themselves with the horse and to memorize the course. A perfect ride is 300 points. Seven points are deducted each time a horse knocks over a “rail.” Ten points are deducted if a horse approaches a jump and stops, which is called a refusal. Also, if a horse and rider take the jumps out of order the rider gets zero points for the event.

“I’m drenched after riding,” Schrimsher said. “Out of all the sports, it’s the most mentally stressful. Your brain is working overtime (to follow the memorized course). And if you lose 20 points on the course, you had better be a good runner.” Running/laser pistol shooting: Each athlete runs 20 meters and then stops to hit the shooting target five times from 10 meters. The competitors then take off for 800 meters, shoot again, run 800, shoot again, run 800, shoot again, and finish with an 800-meter run to the finish.

Runners take part in a staggered start, with the leader in points going first and the others following at predetermined gaps depending on how far in arrears they are.

“The (target) ring we have to hit is the size of an apple — maybe a little smaller than an apple,” Schrimsher said. “We have to hold the pistol single-handed.”

He said a key for him is not being fazed by the other shooters.

“I don’t care what other athletes are doing next to me,” he said. “I think some athletes, they do, but if I miss a shot or miss five shots, whatever, I don’t care. I’m just focusing on my job. I’m blocking everything else out.”

A typical pentathlete gets off a shot every 2 seconds.