Former Best Ranger and OCR Champ Reaches for Olympic Pentathlon
Captain Robert Killian has never been one to set the bar low. He is a ferocious competitor, with an indomitable spirit. Of the many winning titles under his belt, two of the most notable are his first-place win in 2015 of the obstacle-laced Spartan Race World Championship and his 2016 win of the Army’s Best Ranger competition. CPT Killian and his partner, SSG Erich Friedlein, made history as the first-ever Army National Guard team to win Best Ranger.
Since winning the coveted title of Best Ranger, the Green Beret officer from Special Operations Detachment Korea (SOD-K), Colorado Army National Guard, has kept plenty busy. Last year he placed first in the Green Beret Challenge Operators Course, and he and SSG Friedlein placed third at the 2017 Best Ranger Competition. CPT Killian also placed in 21 elite Spartan races in 2017, garnering 15 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze Spartan Medals.
Having championed in an impressive list of wins, CPT Killian said that for his subsequent move, he has set his sights on a higher tier of competitive challenges. His next goal: becoming a premier athlete of the Army’s World Class Athletic Program (WCAP) and, one day, an Olympian.
With a long-term goal of going to the Olympics, it is understandable that CPT Killian would want to be a part of the renowned WCAP. Since 1948, the Army has sent 446 Soldiers, from all three Army components, to the Olympics – winning a total of 111 medals, according to a WCAP report. Fifty-five WCAP Army Athletes have won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in both the summer and winter Olympic Games.
CPT Killian noted that he would like to enter the WCAP in order to train for the pentathlon. He is already off to a good start with this new genre of competition, as he placed second place in the 2017 USA Modern Pentathlon Laser Pistol National Championships. The modern pentathlon is similar to the obstacle course events CPT Killian has conquered in the past, in that they include several strenuous events. The current Olympic pentathlon includes pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and running. These segments of the competition are all scheduled as a one-day event during the summer games.
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