BEIJING • A bad shot here, a poor stroke there, and Eli Bremer and Sam Sacksen never stood a chance in their Olympic modern pentathlon debuts.

The Olympic Training Center residents struggled Thursday at the Beijing Games against a more experienced international field in the event that combines shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and running.

Sacksen, 22, took 18th place with 5,280 points, 352 behind Russian gold medalist Andrey Moiseev, hampered by shaky outings in shooting, fencing and swimming. Bremer, 30, finished 22nd with 5,204 points, sunk by subpar performances in shooting and fencing.

OTC resident Margaux Isaksen will compete today in the women’s event. She’ll be joined by former OTC resident Sheila Taormina, the first woman to appear in the Olympics in three different sports.

A 2000 Air Force graduate, Bremer fell into a hole on his first shot in 10-meter air pistol. His four – on a 10-point scale – tied for the second-lowest among the 720 shots by 36 competitors.

Bremer went 14-21 in epee one touch, sealing his fate before he placed 14th in show jumping and seventh in the 200 freestyle swim with a time of 2 minutes, 2.80 seconds and the 3,000 run with a 9:19.61 mark.

“It was a real disappointing day,” said Bremer, a member of the Air Force World Class Athlete Program. “I got off to a bad start, and it never picked up. It’s hard to recover from that. Sometimes it’s not in the cards.”

Like Bremer, Sacksen, a biology student at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, flopped out of the gate.A seven on his second attempt brought down his shooting total. He stumbled to a 14-21 record in epee and lost points in the 200 swim by clocking a 2:08.99, negating his seventh-place finish in show jumping. He was 17th in the 3,000 run at 9:32.90.

“I didn’t feel the usual strength,” Sacksen said of his swim. “That first 100 is crucial to get a good rhythm going. When that’s not there, it makes the whole race really difficult. And my stroke was kind of falling apart.”

Bremer and Sacksen called their low finishes learning experiences for the 2012 London Games, where they’ll compete if they continue receiving funding from Colorado Springs-based USA Pentathlon.

“Even with the best preparation, sometimes things don’t go well,” Bremer said. “I don’t think I’d change anything. Four of five days, I’d have a good competition with the preparation I did.”

Said Sacksen: “I’ve experienced the top level of competition. Not that other ones are easier or less difficult. But this gives you a different perspective for sure.”

Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE