Britain’s young pentathletes have won a brace of medals at the Modern Pentathlon European Youth A Championships in Sweden.
 
The pick of the performances came from Henry Choong and Ben Pond, who struck gold in the boys’ relay in Uppsala.
 
Choong, from Orpington, and Pond, from Margate, held off a challenge from the teams from Russia and Belarus to top the podium.
 
Francesca Summers, from Dorking, and Georgia Pipes, from North Yorkshire, also impressed, taking silver behind Russia in the girls’ relay.
 
It was useful preparation for Choong and Summers who will both represent Great Britain at next month’s Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
 
Summers just missed out on the individual medals, finishing fourth in the girls’ final, with Plymouth’s Kerenza Bryson coming 17th and Naomi Craig, from Chester, 20th.  William Eccleston, from Poulton Le Fylde near Blackpool came 29th in the boys’ individual final.
 
Kerenza Bryson and Josh Miller from Surrey also came close to the medals in the mixed relay, finishing fifth.
 
Youth A competitions are for athletes aged under-18. Summers has already won individual bronze at the Youth A World Championships in Hungary in May and helped Britain to gold in the team event at both the Youth A and Junior World Championships.

Do you know coaches that work with Modern Pentathletes, coaching them in any of the individual disciplines of fencing, swimming, riding, shooting or running?   We are aiming to put together a plan to develop, support and deploy coaches so that we can provide the best service possible to both them and the athletes that they train.  If so, send the link to the audit below to them so that we can gain their valuable insight.

The aim of the audit is to understand the demographics, current qualifications, delivery levels, training needs and aspirations of the coaching workforce that currently supports the athletes and members of Pentathlon GB.  In effect, we are carrying out an initial audit of everyone who is and has been involved in coaching the disciplines of Modern Pentathlon.

For information, the survey is not anonymous, but all completed surveys will be kept strictly confidential and any data generated publicly will be non-attributable to individual coaches.  Answers may be given to the Pentathlon GB Development Team to enable them to follow up on specific queries.  It takes around 5 – 8 minutes to complete and will be open until Friday 15 August.  As a thank you for completing it, one lucky coach will receive £100 towards their next coaching qualification (subject to approval).

The audit is at this link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PGBCoachSurvey

In a very suny Setubal in Portugal, a team of 86 athletes showed the rest of Europe what a force the Brits are in Biathle. The Parque Urbano de Albarquel hosted the European Biathle Championships for the second consecutive year and the GBR team grabbed a total of 32 medals, 14 gold, 12 silver and 6 bronze.

The first final of the day, the Youth E girls set the benchmark for the remainder of the competition with  Eve Jones, Poppy Clark and Madelaine Cooper taking first, second and third respectively. Kieron Mutch and Alex Painter then went on to take gold and silver in the boys race.

The Youth D Races saw wins for Martine Scott and Luke van Oudtshoorn with Oliver Smart and Jack Goodman taking silver and bronze. There was also a 1 - 2 finish in the Youth C girls race courtesy of excellent perfomances from Eleanor Jones and Madelaine Deadman.

Two more wins in the Youth B races were earned by Caitlin Woskia and Bradley Sutton with Harrson Yarnold finishing a close second. The Youths A races were dominated by Italy and Portugal but not to be outdone, Matthew Crew finished in a well earned second place and in the girls race second and third went to India Mellor and Phyllida Britton.

Harry Lane ran a perfect race to take the win in the Junior mens category and Naomi Drakeford finished second in the Junior Ladies race. Rachel Jones also finished second in the Senior Ladies race.

The Masters Races are always a source of medals for Great Britain and this year it was no different with wins for Emma Fisher (A), Barbara Holmes and Steve Luff  (B) Mary Collett and John Hiil (C) and Peter Collett (D). James Greenwell and Mike Weed took silver and bronze in Masters A, Nicola Quinlan silver in the Masters B, Margaret Smith silver in Masters C and Kay Evans bronze in Masters A,

Another very successful foray into Europe for the British team who now travel to Salford for the National Championships and consider the possibilty of selection for the World Championships in Guatemala..

Jon Austin, Pentathlon GB‘s CEO, is leaving to become the new Performance Director for Badminton England.
 
Jon has been with Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon, for 3½ years and has overseen a transformation of the structure of the sport in Great Britain.

Jon said it was a difficult decision to move on from Pentathlon GB but he could not resist the chance to return to a top performance role in a sport that has been such a significant part of his life.
 
He said: "I am looking forward to my new role, but as I plan my departure and speak with the team, I reflect on the many dedicated, passionate and committed people that work across the organisation and throughout the sport, both as employees and as volunteers. I believe Pentathlon GB is in good shape and moving in the right direction.  My successor has a wonderful opportunity to build on what has already been achieved."
 
Pentathlon GB’s Chairman Tony Temple thanked Jon for his work and said he will be a hard act to follow. He said: "We will be sorry to see Jon go. He has revived the administration of our sport and successfully moved the sport forward. The search for his successor – a really challenging and rewarding job - is already underway."

We are naturally sorry that Jon Austin has decided after 3½ years as CEO to leave Pentathlon GB. He leaves on amicable terms and with our good wishes. We owe Jon a lot for his methodical organisation of our sport.

Jon’s departure is a great opportunity for us to build on past achievements and to recruit a new CEO who will lead our sport forward as we all wish. In the meantime Jon will work with us ensure the present momentum is maintained and there is a smooth transition to a new CEO.
 

Anthony Temple - for the Board


 

Qualification 2 days of competition has just come to an end after dramatic time with rule changes (several times in one day) with team officials being called to be informed of what was happening. This afternoon was most annoying time for many coaches and athletes during the combined event with the target system being used as it was a training system with no overhead lights, no means of feedback and lasers failing to register hits (not just for the GB Team)

Our lead girl going into the Gp B semi had her pistol not registering during the practise (actually authenticated as laser problem) so another laser provider loaned her a barrel with minutes to spare before the start of the race. No chance to zero or anything, fortunately Francesca Summers won Gp B with the luxury of almost jogging the final 800m. The nesx problem was for Georgia Pipes, 3 lights on her target 4 times and then nothing on each of reamining 2 shots - timed out each time. Georgia missed qualification spot by one place. Henry Choong put himself in challenging position after bad fence yesterday by winning the swim in 1.58 but was equal 36th overall for the final and lost the slot because the BLR athlete had best fence - the rule. Josh Miller again had problems with his target during warm up but the officiald said it was fine, Josh did his best but did not make a qualification place.Ben Pond had a good competition but just missed out. Naomi Craig battled all the way to take 11th place in her semi and William Ecccleston snatched the 12th position in his semi.

Athletes that qualified for the final tomorrow are: Francesca Summers, Naomi Craig, Kerenza Bryson and William Eccleston

The  86 strong team of Biathletes pictured in the Parque Urbano de Albarquel, Setubal, before last minute preparations to face strong teams from Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, Turkey and Portugal for the2014 European Biathle Championships.

Sam Curry and Tom Toolis made sure Britain’s campaign at the Modern Pentathlon European Championships ended on a high note by winning bronze in the men’s relay in Hungary this afternoon (Tuesday).
 
It means the Pentathlon GB team will come home from the championships in Székesfehérvár with two medals, following the mixed relay silver medal won by Samantha Murray and Joe Evans yesterday (Monday).
 
The men started their campaign today in the pool, where Curry and Toolis’ 2x100m freestyle relay time of 1:52.82 was only bettered by the Poles. The British team started the day with 362 pentathlon points.
 
The young British pair also fenced well, winning 24 of their 40 contests for 230 points and second place. The Russian team won 28 contests to take the lead overall, with Great Britain still in second.
 
In the riding, the French team were the only ones to go clear in the allowed time to take the maximum 300 points. Curry and Toolis both rode well to add 291 points to their total, keeping them in second overall. They were 19 points behind the Russians and so started the run/shoot 19 seconds behind them.
 
Some fast shooting by France’s Valentin Belaud enabled him to overtake Curry on their second visit to the shooting range to move into second. But Curry and then Tom Toolis after him, were able keep a big enough margin between them and Belarus in fourth to bring home bronze.
 
The young British pair, both students at the University of Bath, clocked a time of 11:05.68 in the run/shoot to make sure of bronze. Ilia Frolov, who won the men's individual silver medal on Sunday, crossed the finish line to take men's relay gold for Russia.
 
The women’s relay also took place today. Jo Muir and Alice Fitton – the bronze medallists at last month’s European Juniors – finished eighth.
 
Their competition started in the fencing hall, where Muir and Fitton won 11 of their 40 fencing bouts to start the day in 11th place with 165 points.
 
The British pair produced the second fastest swimming time of the day – 2:04.88 – to add 326 points to their total and move up to second. The time was only bettered by the Ukrainian team, who led overall.
 
The Brits were one of only two teams to go clear in the allowed time in the riding arena to net the full 300 riding points, along with Lithuania. They remained in 10th place in the leaderboard, but closed the gaps on the other teams ahead of the run/shoot.
 
Fitton and Muir battled hard in the run/shoot, recording a time of 12:32.48, to end the day in eighth.
 
The British team are based at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath.
 
The 2014 World Championships take place in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of September.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
Men’s relay results
Gold: Russia (Ilia Frolov & Oleg Naumov) – 1558 points
Silver: France (Valentin Prades & Valentin Belaud) – 1539 points
Bronze: Great Britain (Sam Curry & Tom Toolis) – 1518 points
 
 
Women’s relay results
Gold: Ukraine (Victoria Tereshuk & Anastasiya Spas) – 1407 points
Silver: Germany (Lena Schoneborn & Annika Schleu) – 1400 points
Bronze: Russia (Anna Savchenko & Ganna Buriak) -  1387 points
8th: Great Britain (Jo Muir & Alice Fitton) – 1339 points
 
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Samantha Murray and Joe Evans won Britain’s first medal of the Modern Pentathlon European Championships when they took mixed relay silver in Hungary today (Monday).
 
The British pair went into the run/shoot at Székesfehérvár with a 22-second lead over the Lithuanian team, made up of reigning Olympic champion and world number one Laura Asadauskaite and reigning world champion Justinas Kinderis.
 
Despite putting up a spirited battle, the British pair were ultimately denied gold by just three seconds.
 
Murray, Britain’s London 2012 Olympic silver medallist, held off run/shoot specialist Asadauskaite for her two shoots and two 800m legs.
 
But Kinderis passed 20-year-old Evans on their first running leg and although Evans shot well and hung in doggedly, he couldn’t overhaul the Lithuanian.
 
“It was a brilliant day and it was nice for us both to finish on a high note here,” said Evans, who competed in the mixed relay the day after contesting the men’s individual final yesterday (Sunday).
 
“I’m pretty shattered now. It was tough to do two days in a row, but we’ve been training well and I was prepared for it,” he said.
 
“We had a good fence, we won the swim and we both pulled together on the ride. We couldn’t quite hold it on the combined event, but we’re both really pleased with the medal.”
 
The British pair made a strong start, winning 25 of their 44 fencing bouts to accumulate 220 pentathlon points, putting them joint third alongside Lithuania. Ukraine and Belarus, were the joint leaders with 27 fencing victories each.
 
Evans produced a strong finish to win the 2x100m freestyle swim and move Britain to the top of the leaderboard. Murray trailed France’s Elodie Clouvel at the halfway mark, but Evans’ powerful finish overhauled Simon Casse.
 
The British pair’s time of 1:53.98 was worth 359 points and saw them move into a six-point lead over Ukraine, with Belarus a further eight points back.
 
Murray and Evans also produced a near flawless performance in the riding arena, dropping just one point from the maximum 300.
 
That kept them in the lead and they started the run/shoot with 22-second advantage over Lithuania in second, and a 49-second lead over Hungary in third.
 
Murray and Evans completed the run/shoot in 11:30.82 to take silver with Poland and Ukraine sharing bronze.
 
Tomorrow (Tuesday) sees the final day of competition at the 2014 European Championships, with both the men’s and women’s relay taking place. Sam Curry and Tom Toolis contest the men’s event, with Alice Fitton and Jo Muir going in the women’s competition.
 
The British team are based at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath.
 
The 2014 World Championships take place in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of September.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
Mixed relay results
Gold: Lithuania (Laura Asadauskaite & Justinas Kinderis) – 1491 points
Silver: Great Britain (Samantha Murray & Joe Evans) – 1488 points
Bronze: Ukraine (Iryna Khokhlova & Dmytro Kirpulyanskyy) – 1458 points
   Poland (Oktawia Nowacka & Lukasz Klekot) – 1458 points
 
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Britain’s modern pentathletes missed out on the medals in the men’s final at the European Championships in Hungary today (Sunday).
 
Twenty-year-old Joe Evans was the highest placed British finisher in Székesfehérvár in 13th place.
 
Double Olympian Nick Woodbridge, competing for the first time in almost a year following a hip injury, won both the swim and the ride, but his challenge faded at the end of the run/shoot and he came home in 29th.
 
And 19-year-old Joe Choong, competing at his first senior international, finished 36th.
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “This was one of the most intense European Championships finals I have ever experienced. There were no weak athletes and from the first fencing match everyone had to battle for every single point.
 
“Joe Evans was absolutely outstanding in the swim, had a decent ride and held his own in the combined event. He is young but he has shown he is a great competitor under pressure,” he added. “Nick swam and rode well, and was holding his own in the combined event, but he struggled towards the end.
 
“It was great that Joe (Choong) came here, got through the whole process and qualified from the semi-finals,” added Bartu. “He needs more riding experience and more competitive experience at this level.
 
“These young kids are going through a learning phase that will serve them massively for the competitions which are coming up.”
 
Evans was the best of the Brits in the fencing hall, winning 15 of his 35 bouts for 190 pentathlon points and joint 23rd place.
 
Choong won 14 contests, worth 184 points and joint 27th, while Woodbridge’s 10 wins earned 160 points and he started the day in joint 35th. Russia’s Aleksander Lesun led.
 
Woodbridge and Evans dominated the swimming as all three British pentathletes climbed up the leaderboard. Woodbridge produced the fastest 200m freestyle time of the day with 1:58.54, which added 345 points to his total and saw him climb to 27th overall.
 
Evans was just five-hundredths of a second behind Woodbridge with a time of 1:58.59. That was also worth 345 points, promoting him to 11th overall.
 
Choong’s 2:02.08 was the seventh fastest time of the day, earning 334 points and moving him up to 20th. Lesun continued to lead.
 
Woodbridge was the only one of the 36 riders to achieve a flawless ride. He cleared all of the jumps on the showjumping course without accumulating any time penalties to take the maximum 300 points from the ride.
 
That took his points total to 805, putting him in 15th place. That was one place below team-mate Evans, who dropped 28 points from the maximum in the riding arena to take his total to 807 points.
 
There was disappointment for young Choong though – he was one of two pentathletes eliminated from the ride and with no points from that discipline, he found himself 36th.  Russia’s Egor Puchkarevskiy, who went to the ride in third place, was also eliminated riding the same horse as Choong.
 
Russia’s Lesun continued to lead and went into the run/shoot with a 60-second advantage over team-mate Ilia Frolov. Evans started the run/shoot 99 seconds behind Lesun, with Woodbridge another two seconds back.
 
Evans’ run/shoot time of 11:13.18 was the 10th fastest and saw him climb a place to finish 13th. Woodbridge was also holding his own until towards the end of the run/shoot, which he completed at a jog to record a time of 12:03.60 for 29th place, while Choong’s 12:47.03 saw him finish 36th.
 
World number one Lesun, who had led all day long, coasted to gold, with Hungary taking the team title. With Jamie Cooke not qualifying for the final, Britain were never in contention for the team medals and finished ninth.
 
Evans returns to action tomorrow (Sunday) partnering Samantha Murray in the mixed relay.
 
The 2014 World Championships take place in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of September.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
Men’s individual results
Gold: Aleksander Lesun (RUS) – 1493 points
Silver: Ilia Frolov (RUS) – 1485 points
Bronze: Pavlo Tymoshschenko (UKR) – 1476 points
13th: Joe Evans (GBR) – 1434 points
29th: Nick Woodbridge (GBR) – 1382 points
36th: Joe Choong (GBR) – 1051 points
 
Men’s team results
Gold: Hungary (Robert Kasza, Bence Demeter & Peter Tibolya) – 4324 points
Silver: Italy (Riccardo de Luca, Pierpaolo Petroni & Nicola Benedetti) – 4236 points
Bronze:  Czech Republic (Martin Bilko, Ondrej Polivka & Jan Kuf) – 4203 points
9th: Great Britain (Joe Evans, Nick Woodbridge & Jamie Cooke*) – 3921 points
* did not qualify for final
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 
 

Two years anniversary of the 2012 Centennial Olympic Modern Pentathlon competition knocks on the door. Lase technology has ben used for the first time in history of the sport in London and it is now firmly embedded in competition formats for all age groups from Youth B and older. Manufactures have been upgrading various elements of the targets and software to tackle reliability issues since. We have collectively learnt a great deal about how to live with laser if not in harmony at least in peace. We understand sunlight implications on feedback targets, perils of underpowered laser barrels, trickery of the operating software but most importantly we have much more confidence that the laser works.

After having a brief conversations with the manufacturers presented in Szekesfehervar I’ve got feeling that as we approach 24 months mark from Rio Olympic Games and start of the 2016 Olympic Qualifications in 2015 the time to cease introducing of fundamental changes to the target systems and laser weaponry is upon us. Sport is desperate for stability to preserve investments to the laser equipment base made already, needs to refocus on further reliability enhancements-sophistication of existing laser technology in circulation keeping Rio Games in sight and promote entry level standard laser equipment to the grass roots of the sport worldwide.

Disappointment does not express how the British Women felt finishing 4th in the team competition. We have to admit opposition has done better this time, no question. They gave away fewer points in the fencing and riding than us and when it came down to the combined-event shooting, contest was over. Positives come from improved performances in skill elements, two top ten individual finishes and the fact that British Women displayed strong physical form.

I have enjoyed following Joe Choong in fencing watching his struggle in riding hoping he learned a significant amount of competition experience today. Nick Woodbridge looked indecisive throughout the fencing battling lack of confidence and specific conditioning resulting from limited training he managed meanwhile recovering from operation. Later he won swimming and riding disciplines demonstrating that once back in full form, potential is there. Joe Evans fought well finishing 13th in one of the most intensive European Championships I ever experienced. Joe went head to head with the top athletes in the sport and stood his ground. It should be encouraging for the rest of the Men’s Team and the Women’s Team in upcoming final preparations for the 2014 Senior World Championships in Warsaw, Poland, 1 – 9 September. 

Britain’s women missed out on the medals at the Modern Pentathlon European Championships in Hungary today (Saturday).
 
Four British women qualified for the final at Székesfehérvár. London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray was highest placed British finisher in the individual competition, coming home in eighth, with Freyja Prentice just behind her in ninth.
 
Kate French finished 13th with 2012 world champion Mhairi Spence ending the day in 20th.
 
The scores achieved by French, Murray and Spence in the individual competition counted towards the team event, where Britain were just edged out of the medals in fourth.
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “We were hoping for a team medal today, but our shooting let us down. Some of the athletes put too much pressure on themselves with their expectations today. Hopefully that’s a lesson we’ve learned.
 
“Overall I’m not too disappointed,” he added. "We are still a work in progress and we have a few weeks to prepare for the World Championships.”
 
After a disappointing fence in Thursday’s qualifiers, Spence found her form in today’s final winning 23 of her 35 fencing bouts for 238 pentathlon points and joint third place behind Germany’s Lena Schoneborn and Russia’s Donata Rimsaite.
 
Prentice won 20 of her contests for 220 points to go to the swim joint ninth, while Murray’s 18 victories put her 14th with 208 points. French won 15 bouts for 190 points to start her campaign in 24th.
 
The British team were third in the team event behind Russia and Ukraine.
 
Murray was best of the Brits and best of the pack in the pool. Her 200m freestyle time of 2:10.20 was the fastest of the day and was worth 310 points, promoting her to seventh overall.
 
Spence was just behind her in eighth overall after clocking a time of 2:20.83, the 16th fastest, to add 278 points to her total.
 
Prentice’s 2:23.30 was worth 271 points, which saw her drop to 15th, while French’s 2:18.83 added 284 points to her tally pushing her up to 20th.
 
France’s Elodie Clouvel was the new leader, while Ukraine now led the team event with the British team moving up to second.
 
Murray was one of only two athletes to go clear in the allowed time in the riding arena – she and Ukraine’s Victoria Tereshuk both collected the maximum 300 riding points.
 
That pushed Murray up to fifth place and she started the run/shoot just 14 seconds behind Clouvel, who still led. The top-six athletes were separated by just 18 seconds at the start of the run/shoot.
 
Prentice added 286 points to her total in the ride, putting her 10th overall, while Spence’s 257 points put her 13th and French’s 274 points kept her 20th.
 
Ukraine continued to lead the team event, with Great Britain second and Italy third.
 
Murray dropped down the leaderbord with a disappointing first shoot, but then ran strongly with a combined event time of 13:32.24 to secure a top-10 finish in eighth. Prentice also battled her way into ninth with a run/shoot of 12:53.05.
 
French’s run/shoot time of 12:41.98, was the third best of the day and saw her climb from 20th to 13th, while Spence’s 13:28.58 saw her end the day in 20th.
 
Germany’s Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist battled her way up from fourth to take gold, from Ukraine’s Victoria Tereshuk – the bronze medallist at the Beijing 2008 Games - with Russia’s Donata Rimsaite taking bronze.
 
Schoneborn’s performance helped Germany edge on to the top of the podium in the team event, taking gold from Ukraine by a single point, with Italy just knocking Britain off the bronze medal position.
 
Tomorrow (Sunday) Joe Choong, Joe Evans and Nick Woodbridge represent Great Britain in the men’s final.
 
The 2014 World Championships take place in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of September.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
Women’s individual results
Gold: Lena Schoneborn (GER) – 1361 points
Silver: Victoria Tereshuk (UKR) – 1344 points
Bronze: Donata Rimsaite (RUS)  - 1337 points
8th: Samantha Murray (GBR) – 1306 points
9th: Freyja Prentice (GBR) – 1304 points
13th: Kate French (GBR) – 1287 points
20th: Mhairi Spence (GBR) – 1265 points
 
Women’s team results
Gold: Germany (Lena Schoneborn, Anika Schleu & Janine Kohlmann) – 3912 points
Silver: Ukraine (Victoria Tereshuk, Anastasiya Spas & Iryna Khokhlova) -  3911 points
Bronze: Italy (Gloria Tocchi, Claudia Cesarini & Alice Sotero) – 3882 points
4th: Great Britain (Kate French, Samantha Murray & Mhairi Spence) – 3858 points
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay  *
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
*may be subject to change
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Britain’s Nick Woodridge, Joe Evans and Joe Choong will contest the men’s final at the Modern Pentathlon European Championships in Hungary on Sunday after qualifying from the heats today (Friday).
 
Woodbridge, back in action for the first time in almost a year after a hip injury, and 20-year-old Evans both qualified automatically for the final in Székesfehérvár by securing top-12 finishes in their heats.
 
They will be joined by 19-year-old Choong who secured a final berth on his senior international debut as one of the next top 12 points scorers across the two heats, but Jamie Cooke just missed out.
 
“It was a positive day for the team. Joe Evans had a fantastic day and looked really strong, and it was good to see Nick returning to a big competition and qualifying for the final,” said Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB’s Performance Director.
 
“It was a good day for Joe Choong too and he has another opportunity to gain experience at this level on Sunday,” he added. “Jamie was trying to defend his position in the combined event, but unfortunately he just couldn’t run anyone down at the end.”
 
As Cooke, Evans and Woodbridge were the three nominated scorers for the team competition, the British team will not now be able to challenge for the medals in that event.
 
The young British pair of Evans and Choong were both competing in group A, which started in the day in the fencing hall. Evans won 12 of his 26 contests for joint 16th, while Choong won 10 bouts for joint 20th.
 
Strong performances in the pool saw Evans and Choong climb up the leaderboard. Evans’ 200m freestyle time of 1:59.59 was the fastest in group A, promoting him to ninth overall, while Choong’s 2:02.75 was sixth fastest, pushing him up to 17th.
 
Evans made sure of his place in the final by crossing the line second behind Hungary’s Robert Kasza in a group of four athletes separated by just two seconds. He completed the run/shoot in 11:39.91.
 
Choong run/shoot of 11:47.02 saw him come home in 19th, but he then faced an anxious wait until the completion of group B to see if his points total was enough to progress.
 
Group B started in the pool, giving Cooke and Woodbridge the chance to get off to a decent start. They both took that opportunity, coming second and third respectively.
 
Cooke clocked a 200m freestyle time of 1:57.72, a time that was only bettered by Poland’s Remigiusz, while Woodbridge came home in 1:59.02.
 
Woodbridge fenced well, winning 15 of his 26 bouts, to climb to second place overall, while Cooke’s 10 victories saw him drop to joint ninth going to the run/shoot.
 
Woodbridge crossed the line in sixth to make sure of his place in the final after a combined event time of 12:21.77. Cooke finished 18th in group B with a run/shoot of 12:08.38. However, his points total of 1105 wasn’t quite enough to secure a place in the final, but young Choong did to progress from group A.
 
Tomorrow (Saturday) Kate French, Samantha Murray, Freyja Prentice and Mhairi Spence contest the women’s individual final, with the scores achieved by French, Murray and Spence counting towards the GB team total.
 
The British women are aiming to defend the team title they won a year ago.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay  *
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
*may be subject to change
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

World of Pentathlon we live in is a relatively small place. Hence the news fly fast so even break up with a boyfriend can make the headline news. Social media networking adds almost graphic dimension to the information flow prompting rumour mill fury and making our communication ambient holistic. No surprise re-appearing of Ganna Buriak, top Ukrainian athlete, in Russian National Team outfit features currently on the cards. Ganna competed in the Acapulco World Cup semi-finals for Ukraine this February. Some people may think that paragraphs 4.3 and 4.4 of the UIPM Chapter 4 Eligibility Rules applies and Ganna should not be allowed to change the three letters on the back of her kit from UKR to RUS in 2014.  Honestly that does not bother me. She is a talented athlete surely capable to assess where and with whom she wants to secure her future. I don’t know the circumstances or reasons for such a life changing decision. What I question is that unless Ukrainian Federation has agreed to release her, international body for sport should not sanction the move. It must be difficult for coaches and many others with the Ukrainian Federation to see years of investment disappearing east bound leaving them in despair short of a medal potential. 

Mhairi Spence won seven out of twenty two fights in the semi-finals. That is something I would call the ‘fencing eclipse’. No matter what she tried to do worked. Nothing new in Pentathlon when expectations, anxiety or just a pure bad luck squashed in less than two hours join the forces on the day. Mhairi made it through to the Finals performing well in the rest of the competition earning another opportunity to demonstrate high technical – tactical standards in the fencing discipline. All four British women will compete tomorrow aiming to defend successfully the 2013 Team European Title. Are they up to the challenge? We will find out in less than 24 hours, keep fingers crossed.

Nick Woodbridge is back after hip operation and annoyingly long rehabilitation. Through to the Finals in style will be supported by Joe Evans alias ‘The Road Runner’ looking in good form and Joe Choong, new man on the block making it to the Finals on his first Senior European appearance. Jamie Cooke is trying hard to come back after time demanding but successful conclusion of studies at the Bath Spa University earlier this year. It seems that despite all his efforts it will still take some time and patience before he can realistically think to repeat and improve on his top 2013 performances.     

Women’s Finals start tomorrow 9am Central European time here in Szekesfehervar, Hungary.

All four British women have qualified safely for Saturday’s Modern Pentathlon European Championships final in Székesfehérvár, Hungary.
 
London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray and world number six Kate French qualified comfortably from group A, finishing in second and third places respectively today (Thursday).
 
Mhairi Spence, Britain’s 2012 world champion, and world number 19 Freyja Prentice had to work harder in the run/shoot in group B, but came home in eighth and 12th places to ensure they join Murray and French in the final.
 
The points scored by French, Murray and Spence on Saturday will count towards Great Britain’s result in the team competition, where Britain are aiming to retain the title they won last year.  
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “All four are through to the final. Samantha and Kate looked comfortable in their group, but Mhairi and Freyja had to work harder in their combined event today.
 
“We can move on positively and regroup for the final now, where we will also be aiming to fight against the other teams to defend the European team title.”
 
Athletes knew they had to secure a top-12 place in each of the two groups to automatically progress to the final, where they would be joined by the next 12 highest points scorers from the two groups.
 
Group A started in the fencing hall, where French was joint second with 15 wins from 22 contests and Murray joint 11th with 12 wins.
 
The two Brits in group A shared third place after the swim. Murray clocked the second fastest 200m freestyle swim time, 2:11.43, while French’s 2:20.33 was 11th quickest. They both started 10 seconds behind Elodie Clouvel of France, who led the field, with Ukraine’s Anastasia Spas second.
 
Clouvel held on to the lead in the run/shoot, but Murray and French were both able to comfortably qualify for the final, coming home in second and third places respectively. Murray clocked 13:16.26 with French completing the run/shoot in 13:17.24.
 
Group B started in the pool, where Spence came fourth with a 200m freestyle time of 2:18.13 and Prentice was 13th in 2:23.97.
 
Prentice won 11 of her 22 fencing bouts, enough to see her climb a place to 12th going into the run/shoot. Spence won seven of her contests, putting her 17th overall.
 
In the run/shoot, Spence worked her way up through the field to finish in eighth overall with a time of 12:51.83, the fastest in group B.
 
Prentice secured the final automatic spot from group B with a run/shoot time of 13:12.80m the seventh fastest, to finish 12th overall.
 
Germany’s Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist Lena Schoneborn coasted home in first.
 
Tomorrow the men get the first taste of action at the European Championships. Joe Choong, Jamie Cooke, Joe Evans and Nick Woodbridge fly the flag for Great Britain.
 
The European Championships start on Thursday 10 July and running through to Tuesday 15 July.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay  *
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
*may be subject to change
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Two talented young modern pentathletes have been selected to represent Great Britain at this summer’s Youth Olympic Games in China.
 
Francesca Summers and Henry Choong are members of the 33-strong Team GB team competing across 14 sports at the Games, which take place in Nanjing from 16 to 28 August.
 
Both young athletes are currently on Pentathlon GB’s World Class Podium Potential Programme.
 
Eighteen-year-old Francesca becomes the first British woman to compete in the pentathlon at the Youth Olympic Games.
Her selection follows impressive performances this year which saw her win individual bronze at the Youth A World Championships in Hungary in May and then come fourth at the World Junior Championships in Poland. She helped the British team win team gold on both occasions. She also won silver at last month’s British Junior Championships.
 
Francesca, who lives in Dorking and is a student at Hurtwood House School, said: “Getting to any sporting event with the word Olympics in the title is pretty special. The Youth Olympic Games have only taken place once before in 2010, so the enormity of the occasion has not really sunk in yet.
 
“British women have a tremendous record in the Olympics since they first competed in the modern pentathlon in Sydney 2000.
 
“For many of the coaches and Pentathlon GB personnel, this is almost second nature,” she added. “But for me it's all new and exciting.  And I am really looking forward to the challenge.
 
“Watching the Olympics in London two years ago was amazing and a huge inspiration for me. Hopefully Nanjing can be another step on my way to competing at an Olympics, so I’m really excited to represent Team GB in Nanjing.”
 
Henry Choong achieved the qualifying standard for the Youth Olympics by finishing sixth at the European Youth Olympic Games Qualification competition in Portugal in September.
 
He won bronze at the 2012 Youth B European Championships in Poland and was the only British male athlete to reach the final at the Youth A World Championships in Hungary in May, where he came home in 28th. He also won the under-17 title at this year’s British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships, held at the inspirational setting of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
 
The 17-year-old is the younger brother of Joe Choong, who has won back-to-back titles at the GB Open and makes his senior international debut at the European Championships in Hungary this week.   
 
Henry is from Orpington and took up pentathlon five years ago when he started studying at Whitgift School in South Croydon.
 
He said: “It’s been my dream to make the team for Nanjing ever since I heard about the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore four years ago, so I’m delighted to be selected.
 
“It’s such a privilege to be selected for Team GB and to be part of the Youth Olympic Games,” he added. “It’s my first multi-sport Games so that adds to the excitement and I can’t wait to experience Olympic life.
 
“I’m hoping to compete well and if I have a good fence I really believe I can get a medal. I am so pleased my parents and grandparents will be coming out to Nanjing to support me and share the excitement."
 
Laura Gomersall, Team GB’s modern pentathlon team leader for the Games and head of modern pentathlon at Whitgift School, added: “This is the athletes’ first ever multi-sport Games and I know the Olympic rings mean a lot to them.
 
“They saw their role models compete in London two years ago and they’ll both be looking to match that and embrace Team GB.  Nanjing will be the biggest competition of their season so far and they’ll both be going in with high medal hopes.”
 
The modern pentathlon competition in Nanjing will feature four of the sport’s five disciplines, starting with a round robin fence, followed by a 200m freestyle swim and then a run/shoot, with athletes completing four sets of shooting interspersed with four 800m runs.
 
It will feature men’s and women’s competitions and a mixed team competition.
 
Some 3600 athletes aged 15 to 18 from more than 200 countries will take part in Nanjing at the second summer Youth Olympic Games.
 
For further information about modern pentathlon please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
For further information about Team GB please see  www.teamgb.com or contact Laura Meech – laura.meech@teamgb.com

For further information about the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games please go to www.nanjing2014.org/en
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 
 

A 43 strong Biathle team traveled to the City of Erding to compete in the 4th Biathle World Tour of 2014. The beautiful setting of Kronthaler Weiher lake provided for the swim with the run on the surrounding parkland for the second time in three years.

The first Races, Youth F, provided the teams first successes with a win for Bea Stanton and a second place for Orlando Clark. The Youth E races gave the team more success with wins for Poppy Clark and Jake Fisher and a second place for James Hulme.

A clean sweep of medals for the team in the youth D boys courtesy of Ryan Symington, Connor Jelley and Fred Fisher. Elizabeth Tolley and Hannah Stanton took gold and silver in the Youth C Girls Race. Bradley Sutton showed a clean pair of heels to the opposition in the Youth B Boys race and India Cooper, Olivia Manson and Leanne Symington took all the medals in the Girls Race.

Matthew Cook won the Youth A Boys race with Ryan Flaherty third. Harry Lane and Adam Weightman took gold and silver and Hannah Parkinson was second  in the Junior races to contine the team's run of success. Victory on the Senior Ladies race went to Rachel Jones.

In the Masters Races there were wins for Emma Fisher (A), Mary Collett (C) and Peter Collett (D). James Greenwell (A) and Michael Covell (C) were second and Margaret Smith (C) was placed third.

The team won a total  of 25 medals, 12 gold, 8 silver and five bronze and excellent performance and congratulations to the whole team.

Results:

Youth F: 1st Bea Stanton 2:55.8, 2nd Orlando Clark 3:17.9

Youth E: 1st Jake Fisher 4:49.4, 2nd James Hulme 5:07.6, 1st Poppy Clark 4:53.9.

Youth D: 1st Ryan Symington 4:16.1, 2nd Conner Jelley 4:24.8, 3rd Jake Fisher 4:35.2. 5th Jessica Hudson 4:47.1, 8th Catherine Tolley 4:52.7, 9th Rachel Hatherall 5:01.8, 10th Elektra Covell 5:02.1.

Youth C: 1st Elizabeth Tolly 5:04.9, 3rd Hannah Stanton 5:18.2, 5th Portia Manson 5:20.1, 6th Jessica Sutton 5:23.2, 7th Connie Baker 5:25.1, 12th Lucy Anderson 5:34.6, 13th Poppy Boyden 5:40.5.

Youth B: 1st Bradley Sutton 8:55.1, 1st India Cooper 10:36.1, 2nd Olivia Manson 10:38.0, 3rd Leanne Symington 10:48.1, 5th Georgie Lane 11:04.4, 8th Olivia Lowe 11:20.2, 10th Daisy Liddle 12:03.2.

Youth A: 1st Matthew Cook 12:25.8, 3rd Ryan Flaherty 14:33.4. dnf Bryony Martel.

Juior: 1st Harry Lane 11:59.5, 2nd Adam Weightman 12:30.6. 2nd Hannah Parkinson 14:13.3

Senior: 1st Rachel Jones 13:45.1

Master A: 1st Emma Fisher 8:52.5, 2nd James Greenwell 8:16.3, 4th Mike Weed 9:30.3

Master B: 4th William Statemeir 10:13.7, 5th Mark Fisher 10:23.2. 10th Mick Flaherty 11:40.1.

Master C: 2nd Michael Covell 12:06.8, 1st Mary Collett 11:44.1, 3rd Margaret Smith 13:11.5.

Master D: 1st Peter Collett 11:38.3 

Double Olympic modern pentathlete Nick Woodbridge is set to compete at his first event for almost a year when he represents Great Britain at next week’s European Championships in Hungary.
 
Woodbridge was struggling with a hip injury ahead of last year’s World Championships in Chinese Taipei in August but came home with a silver medal. His return to action at the Europeans in Székesfehérvár follows surgery in February.
 
“This year has really been quite difficult, it’s all been about rehab,” he said.  “I’m in quite good shape, but I’m not quite 100 per cent at the moment. It’s a long time since I’ve competed, so it will be good to see where I am fitness-wise.
 
“It’s a bit of a warm-up for the World Championships in September, then I’ll get in a serious amount of rehab over the winter. I should really see the benefits then,” he added.
 
Woodbridge (left) is joined in the men’s team by Jamie Cooke, Joe Evans and Joe Choong.
 
Nineteen-year-old Choong, a first year Mathematics student at the University of Bath, makes his senior international debut after securing a place on the team by winning the GB Open in Solihull at the weekend.
 
“I’m a bit nervous, but it will be a good opportunity for me to prove myself,” said Choong, who is still in his first year at junior level. “I don’t really know what to expect, but my main aim is to make the final. I think I can handle myself at juniors now, so I will see how I can step up to senior level.”
 
Pentathlon GB also has a strong quartet in the women’s individual competition, including 2012 world champion Mhairi Spence and London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray both.
 
Spence is looking forward to the competition after returning to action at the World Cup in Kecskemét, Hungary in May following an ankle injury. She said: “This will be my first competition for a while when I’ve been fully fit, so I’m looking forward to it. We hope to get another team medal, but we all have our individual goals as well.”
 
Spence and Murray are joined by Kate French, currently ranked 14 in the world and fourth at last month’s World Cup Final in Sarasota, and by Freyja Prentice, who was the highest placed Brit at last year’s European Championships, finishing fourth.
 
The performances of three nominated individuals count towards the team event medals. French, Murray and Spence (left) won team gold at both last year’s European and World championships.
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said he is looking forward to seeing how Woodbridge fares on his return and how Choong does at his first major championships.
 
“Nick looks good. He’s fit and healthy, but he’s stepping into unknown territory after not competing for a year,” said Bartu. “He needs to get back on the circuit and regain confidence. The semi-final will be crucial for him at the Europeans.
 
“Joe (Choong) is still a junior and this is first big major senior championships, so it will be interesting to see how he does. Everyone else has been there before, seen it and done it.”
 
Bartu said he is pleased to see so much competition for places within the team based at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath.
 
“They all push each other in training and that helps them to perform,” he said. “All of the athletes selected are competitive, but when they get to the championships the first hurdle they have to overcome is making it through the semi-finals. You usually have to compete flat out until the end in the semi-finals these days.”
 
Jo Muir teams up with Alice Fitton for the women’s team relay. The young pair recently won bronze in the same event at the European Junior Championships in Belarus.
 
Another young pair – Sam Curry and Tom Toolis – go in the men’s team relay.
 
Samantha Murray and Joe Evans are currently scheduled to contest the mixed relay in Székesfehérvár.
 
Britain’s pentathletes produced some impressive performances at last year’s European Championships, with all four British women securing top-12 finishes in the individual competition.
 
Prentice was the highest placed individual finisher in fourth, while Murray (seventh), French (10th) and Spence’s (12th) performances earned Great Britain team gold.
 
Cooke, Curry and Evans joined forces to win the men’s relay bronze.
 
The European Championships start on Thursday 10 July and run through to Tuesday 15 July. The World Championships take place in Warsaw at the start of September.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay  *
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
*may be subject to change
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Photos: www.pentathlon.org

Samantha Murray and Joe Choong both successfully defended their titles at the GB Open Modern Pentathlon Championships in Solihull today (Sunday).
 
Murray, the London 2012 Olympic silver medallist, came home first in the women’s competition to retain both the GB Open title and the British Championship crown.
 
Choong, just turned 19, also retained his GB Open title and the British Junior Championship crown he won last year.
 
The GB Open was organised by Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon, and the event saw British, Hungarian and Irish pentathletes in action at the Tudor Grange Leisure Centre.
 
Women’s competition
 
In-form Alice Fitton topped the leaderboard in the women’s competition after the 200m freestyle swim. Fresh from winning individual silver at the European Junior Championships a week ago, she clocked a time of 2:05.28 for 324 pentathlon points, giving her an eight-point lead over London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray, with d 2:08.13. Kelcey Pillage was third.
 
Murray was the best of the Brits after the fencing, but she trailed Hungary’s Tamara Alekszejev by six points overall. Murray won 24 of her 36 fencing bouts. Mhari Spence climbed from fifth to third with 26 fencing victories.
 
Three athletes – Britain’s Freyja Prentice and Kate French, and Hungary’s Kamilla Reti, produced flawless rides to land the full 300 points at Solihull Riding Club. But Alekszejev still led, now from Fitton, with Murray third.
 
Alekszejev went into the run/shoot with a 23-second lead over Fitton, with Murray starting a further three seconds back and 2012 world champion Mhairi Spence fourth,11 seconds behind her fellow London 2012 Olympian.
 
But Murray’s run/shoot time of 12:47.44, the fifth fastest of the day, saw her home nine seconds clear of Alekszejev. Fitton finished third overall with Francesca Summers fourth. Eilidh Prise’s run/shoot time of 12:30.69 was the quickest of the day. Murray, Fitton and Spence took team gold.

Fitton's performance also earned her the British Junior Champion crown.

Results
GB Open Individual
Gold: Samantha Murray (Bath) – 1372 points
Silver: Tamara Alekszejev (Hungary) – 1363 points
Bronze: Alice Fitton (Bath) – 1360 points
 

British Senior Championships

Gold: Samantha Murray (Bath) – 1372 points

Silver: Mhairi Spence (Bath) - 1343 points

Bronze: Kate French (Bath) - 1330 points

British Junior Championships

Gold: Alice Fitton (Bath) – 1360 points

Silver: Francesca Summers (North Kent MPC) - 1357 points

Bronze: Eilidh Prise (Scottish Saltires) - 1322 points

Team results
Gold:  Bath (Samantha Murray, Alice Fitton & Mhairi Spence) – 4075 points
Silver: Scottish Saltires (Eilidh Prise, Jo Muir & Freyja Prentice) – 3949 points
Bronze: Hungary MPA (Tamara Alekszejev, Kamilla Reti & Emese Slett) – 3822 points
 
 
Men’s competition
Joe Evans pipped Jamie Cooke in the 200m freestyle swim at the start of the men’s competition. His time of 1:54.75 was 0.09 seconds faster than Cooke’s, but both were worth 356 pentathlon points. Joe Choong was just behind them in third in 1:55.47, worth 354 points.
 
Choong produced a terrific performance on the fencing piste to top the leaderboard after two disciplines. He won 25 of his 32 bouts to take his points total to 625. His performance was only bettered by Hungary’s Krisztian Klis, whose 26 victories saw him move to second overall on 607 points. Evans won 17 bouts, dropping to third.
 
Tom Toolis was the only British athlete to go clear in the allowed time in the ride, a performance that saw him climb to third going into the run shoot behind leader Choong and second place Evans. Choong had a healthy 47-second lead over Evans, with Toolis starting a further 10 seconds back.
 
The positions remained unchanged at the end of the run/shoot, with Choong taking gold, from Evans and Toolis. As all three featured in the Bath A men’s team, they also took team gold.

Choong also retained his British Junior title, with Tom Toolis taking the British Senior title as the highest placed British senior finisher.
 
Results
 
GB Open Individual
Gold: Joe Choong – 1484 points
Silver: Joe Evans – 1468 points
Bronze: Tom Toolis – 1446 points
 

British Senior Championships

Gold: Tom Toolis  (Bath) - 1446 points
Silver: Jamie Cooke (Bath) - 1373 points
Bronze: James Myatt (Bath) - 1349 points

British Junior Championships
Gold: Joe Choong (Bath) - 1484 points
Silver: Joe Evans (Bath) - 1468 points
Bronze: Tom Lees (Oxford) - 1433 points

Team
Gold: Bath A (Joe Choong, Joe Evans & Tom Toolis) – 4398 points
Silver: Hungary MPA (Gergely Demeter, Bence Harangozo & Szabolcs Biro) – 4235 points
Bronze: Bath B (Sam Curry, Jamie Cooke & James Myatt) – 4139 points
 
Full results can be downloaded from www.pentathlongb.org/competitions/results.php
 
 
The Olympic sport of modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in fencing, swimming, show jumping and a run/shoot using laser pistols, all in one day.
 
Britain is one of the most successful countries in the sport, with British athletes winning medals at each of the last four Olympic Games.
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Britain’s young pentathletes achieved more impressive performances with a hat-trick of medals at the European Junior Championships, which have just drawn to a close at Minsk in Belarus.
 
Alice Fitton won the individual silver medal, finishing just two seconds behind gold medallist Italy’s Gloria Tocchi. Team-mate Jo Muir finished 14th in the individual competition with Maili MacKenzie 32nd.
 
The trio also joined forces to take bronze in the team competition behind France and Lithuania, with Fitton and Muir following that up with team relay bronze behind Italy and Russia.
 
Britain’s men also performed well, with Sam Curry 14th, Joe Choong 15th and Tom Lees 16th in the individual final. They just missed out on the team medals, finishing fourth behind Belarus, Russia and Germany. Curry and Choong came ninth in the men’s relay.
 
Attention now turns to the GB Open, which includes the British Championships and takes place in Solihull on Sunday.
 
GB team at European Junior Championships
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 19, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

On 25 June the Head Office of Pentathlon GB will be moving.  Whilst we will remain on the University of Bath campus, our address will change to:

22/23 Eastwood

University of Bath

Bath

BA2 7AY

The office will be closed from 25 - 27 June to enable us to move and set up the new offices, you can still send e-mails to admin@pentathlongb.org and we will endeavour to answer queries as soon as possible.

The third round of the Biathle World Tour was held in the Styrian town of Graz in Austria. This inaugural event was staged in the wonderful Eggenberg sports complex which, amongst all the other sporting facilities, boasted both and indoor and outdoor 50 metres swimming pool.

The British Team consisted only of a small team of the older athletes and the event being held over the Austrian Bank holiday of Corpus Christi rather than a weekend, meant many could not have the necessary time off school or work.

Athletes from Hungary, Czech Republic, Portugal and Germany joined GB and the Austrian hosts in all age categories from Youths F through to Masters.

Great Britains involvement started with the Youths B races and both Elliot Laville and Elke Morgan took fine wins for GB. Bryony Martel and Hannah Parkinson repeated GB success by winning the Youths A and Junior races respectively.

In the final category, the seniors Rachel Jones and Nicola Rowley completed a 1 – 2 to bring the teams medal tally to 5 Golds and one silver.

GBR Team times

Elliot Laville           Youth B   9 minutes 41.7 seconds

Elke Morgan          Youth B  11 minutes 3.1 seconds

Bryony Martel        Youth A  14minutes 14.4 seconds

Hannah Parkinson  Junior    14 minutes 2.2 seconds

Rachel Jones         Senior   13 minutes 48.5 seconds

Nicola Rowley        Senior   14 minutes 56.2 seconds

Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray and former world champion Mhairi Spence are among an array of the country’s most talented modern pentathletes competing at the GB Open Pentathlon Championships in Solihull later this month.
 
The championships are organised by Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon and take place at the Tudor Grange Leisure Centre and the Solihull Riding Club on Sunday 29 June.
 
They double as the British Championships and the highest placed British finisher in both the men’s and women’s competitions will earn places on the Pentathlon GB team for the European Championships in Hungary next month.
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB performance director, said: “The GB Open is part of the selection process for the European Championships for the second consecutive year. That makes it an important competition for the British athletes.
 
“We also have some competitors from overseas this year and we want to see the competition grow as an international event in future years.”
 
Samantha Murray, who won the senior title last year, and Mhairi Spence will be joined in the women’s competition by Kate French, currently the highest British woman in the world rankings at 14. She produced the best performance of her career to date to finish fourth at the World Cup Final in Sarasota at the weekend.
 
The trio that won team gold at last month’s World Junior Championships will also feature - Jo Muir, currently number one in the world junior rankings, Francesca Summers and Alice Fitton.
 
There is also a high class field in the men’s competition, reflecting Britain’s strength in the sport.
 
It includes Jamie Cooke, Britain’s 2011 world junior champion, who won the senior event last year. Joe Choong, who won the junior and overall titles in 2013, also competes, as does Joe Evans, who won bronze on his senior World Cup debut in the USA last year.
 
Nine young Hungarian athletes will also contest the championships – six men and three women.
 
The action gets underway at Tudor Grange Leisure Centre at 8am on Sunday 29 June with athletes taking part in the 200m freestyle swim, and should conclude by 6pm. A full schedule will follow shortly.
 
There will also be youth competition taking place on the Saturday and the Sunday.
 
The 2014 Bericap Senior European Championships take place at Szekesfehervar in Hungary from 10 to 15 July.
 
The Olympic sport of modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in fencing, swimming, show jumping and a run/shoot using laser pistols, all in one day.
 
Britain is one of the most successful countries in the sport, with British athletes winning medals at each of the last four Olympic Games.
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

A team of 33 Biathletes travelled to Marina di Pisa in Italy for the second round of the 2014 World Tour. Biathletes from Germany, Austria, Cyprus and Portugal as well as Great Britain and Italy raced for medals in 30 degrees of heat along the promenade of Piazza Sardegnia and the calm waters of the Tirrenian Sea.

The team didn’t have to wait long for its first success with Youth F Jonty Manners-Bell winning the first race of the day. The second race brought more success with Poppy Clark and Charlotte Taylor taking gold and silver in the Youths E Girls Race and Will Connors carried on the team’s success with a win in the boys race.

The Youth D Girls race provided a clean sweep for Britain with Estelle Depierre, Evie Green and Rachel Hatherall filling the top three places and Archie Williams won the Boys race. Another clean sweep of medals went the way of GBR in the Youth C Girls Race courtesy of Elisabeth Tolley, Isla Green and Emma Livingstone. The youth B race saw victories for Bradley Sutton and India Cooper with Olivia Lowe taking second place.

In a hard fought Race with what seemed to be a long 200 metres swim, Gregan Clarkson showed the way home to the rest of the senior men by winning in emphatic fashion.   Rachel Jones and Hannah Parkinson both took silver in the Senior and Junior Ladies Races.

The Masters races are always successful for the GBR team and James Greenwell (Master A) showed a clean pair of heals to the strong opposition with Mike Weed finishing second and Denise Silk won a silver in the ladies race. Mary Collett won the Masters C race from Margret Smith in second and there were wins for Lajos Fazekas (C), Peter Collett (D) and Suzanne Clarkson (B). Unfortunately John McCabe (B) sustained an Achilles problem during the race and failed to finish.

A team of 33 athletes gained a total of 25 medals, 14 gold, 9 silver and 2 bronze to once again take the overall team trophy ahead of home country Italy. Congratulations to the team for a job well done.

Results:

Youth F            Jonty Manners Bell     1st        3:12.7

Youth E            Poppy Clark                 1st        5:17.7

                        Charlotte Taylor          2nd        5:43.2

                        Will Connors               1st        5:24.8

Youth D           Estelle Depierre          1st        5:06.4

                        Evie Green                  2nd        5:06.5

                        Rachel Hatherall         3rd        5:13.0

                        Jessica Hudson            6th        5:24.8

                        Catherine Tolley         8th        5:29.9

                        Archie Williams          1st        5:02.9

                        Tom Connors               4th        5:22.0

Youth C            Elisabeth Tolley           1st        5:44.4

                        Isla Green                    2nd        5:47.7

                        Emma Livingstone      3rd        5:54.5

                        Jessica Sutton              6th        6:18.8

                        Guy Tucker                  4th        5:33.9

                        Niall Caley                   5th        5:43.4

                        Jack A Williams           6th        5:48.2

Youth B            India Cooper               1st        11:39.0

                        Olivia Lowe                 2nd        12:13.7

                        Bradley Sutton 1st        10:11.9

Junior              Hannah Parkinson       2nd        15:06.1

Senior              Rachel Jones               2nd        15:00.5

                        Gregan Clarkson         1st        12:56.6

Master A         James Greenwell        1st        9:05.4

                        Mike Weed                 2nd        10:12.8

                        Denise Silk                   2nd        11:27.3

Master B         Suzanne Clarkson        1st        16:06.7

Master C         Mary Collett                1st        12:18.0

                        Margaret Smith          2nd        13:31.5

                        Lajos Fazekas              1st        12:28.2

Master D         Pete Collett                 1st        11:15.3           

Britain’s Kate French achieved the best result of her modern pentathlon career to date by finishing fourth on her World Cup Final debut in Florida.
 
Athletes qualify for the World Cup Final through their performances at the World Cup series events throughout the season.
 
French’s sixth at the World Cup in Chengdu, China in April had been the best individual performance of her career and helped earn her a place at the World Cup Final in Sarasota for the first time.
 
And despite focussing training on next month’s European Championships and the World Championships at the start of September, the world number 14 ranked athlete produced a strong all-round performance in Florida, missing out on the medals by just 10 seconds after a day of fencing, swimming, riding and a run/shoot.
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB performance director, said: “Fourth was a fantastic result, especially as Kate is in full training at this point and there was no special preparation for this competition.
 
“It was another very promising performance by Kate,” he added. “She was competing against some really fierce athletes in Sarasota and was very close to breaking into the medals."
 
The 23-year-old, originally from Meopham in Kent and now training at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath, made a strong start to her World Cup Final debut, winning 21 of her 34 fencing bouts.
 
That put her in joint seventh place with 226 pentathlon points. Ukraine’s Victoria Tereshuk led with 26 wins and 256 points.
 
Her 200m freestyle swim time of 2:14.72 was the 12th fastest of the day, adding 296 points to her total and promoting her to fifth overall.
 
French followed that up with a decent performance in the riding arena, where she dropped seven points from the maximum of 300, to add 293 points to her score. That was enough to see her go into the run/shoot in second place.
 
She couldn’t hold on to that position, but her run/shoot time of 13:25.00 was enough to earn her a creditable fourth place finish, the best performance of her career to date.
 
Gold went to Poland’s world number four Oktawia Nowacka, who has medalled at all three World Cup series events this year. She held off Lithuania’s London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Laura Asadauskaite to take the title, with world number two Qian Chen from China taking bronze.
 
 
World Cup Final results
Gold: Oktawia Nowacka (POL) – 1337 points
Silver: Laura Asadauskaite (LTU) – 1323 points  (+ 14 seconds)
Bronze: Qian Chen (CHN) – 1320 points  (+ 17 seconds)
4th: Kate French (GBR) -  1310 points  (+ 27 seconds)
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518, or 07765 071683 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Britain’s Kate French is looking forward to competing at her first Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final in Sarasota, Florida on Friday (6 June).
 
The 23-year-old achieved the qualifying standard for the event last year, but was only the fourth best British qualifier. With a maximum of three places per gender nation available, she missed out.
 
French said she’s looking forward to the competition, although her focus this year is on the European and World Championships.
 
“I'm really pleased and excited to compete at my first World Cup Final,” she said. “We’re in a hard training block at the moment because the European and World Championships are our main aims this year.
 
“This will be a good warm-up and I’d be happy with a good, solid performance,” she said.
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said” “It’s fantastic that Kate has the chance to compete at her first World Cup Final. It's another competitive opportunity for her at the top level.
 
“The World Cup Final hasn’t been our highest priority this season though, and everyone else will keep training and working hard in Bath, getting ready for the European and World Championships.”
 
French is currently ranked number 14 in the world, making her the highest ranked British woman.
 
She secured a World Cup Final place with her best World Cup result yet, a sixth in Chengdu, China in April, followed by 18th in Kecskemet, Hungary.
 
Last year French received one of Pentathlon GB’s two Outstanding Performance of the Year awards after helping Britain to team golds at both the World and European Championships and securing 10th place finishes in the individual competitions at both.
 
Originally from Meopham near Gravesend in Kent, French trains at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath, from where she graduated with a Sports Performance degree last year.
 
The World Cup Final is a straight final, so French will be in action on Friday only.
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

John Majendie who died on 28th May aged 94 was the MPAGB Secretary throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1951 British Championships John, a policeman, was the only civilian of the 72 entrants. After Sandhurst, John served during the Second World War as a commando in Norway and as a major in the Normandy landings. Indeed, in recent years he organized annual reunions of Normandy veterans, using some of the £10,000 prize as winner of The Times Sternberg Active Life Award to fund those who might otherwise have been unable to attend. (For a fuller account of his military career, see his obituary in The Times, 30 May 2014).

John spent many years working for the MPAGB in an unpaid capacity and, as its sole administrator, was often the voice of the association. In an interview with Weekend magazine in 1961 he bemoaned the pitiful financial support for the British team attending the World Championships that year. “We reckoned we’d done it on two shillings and seven pence halfpenny a man” (approximately 13 pence in modern money!). On the fascination of the sport, however, he pointed out that “It’s a bit of a slog but I notice that once a chap takes up the pentathlon he never gives it up.” Long may that spirit of determination remain among pentathletes.

Pentathlon GB would like to offer you the chance to attend the ‘Grow Your Club’ workshops which we are running in conjunction with Sports Marketing Network.  The aim of the workshops is to enable your club to become more vibrant, visible and viable.

The first workshop will focus on the importance of creating an enterprising and welcoming culture – thus attracting more money, members and volunteers. It will also cover how you can develop the enterprise culture and skills required, how to get your vision right and also a clear vision of what your club is for. 

It will help your club become vibrant through the activities and events the club creates, visible through its communication with members, supporters, sponsors and the world at large thus creating a viable club.

Other topics covered include:

• How do you deliver great, sustainable community sport without compromising your sporting and community objectives?
• How do you provide really innovative and welcoming customer experiences which fit in with people’s lives?
• How do you meet the strategic objectives of external partners and funders, whether they are from within sport or from health, regeneration or community services?
• How do you communicate effectively by listening to people and speaking their language?
• How do you develop sustainable income streams and still grow the number of participants?
• How to ensure that your club is able to tap into various Sport England grant programmes
• Buzzing with all these ideas people attending will then learn how to attract and retain skilled and passionate volunteers who can help the club implement them.

You will be given many proven ideas on how to generate income and concrete advice on how to implement the most appropriate ones.

The second workshop will then go through lessons learnt, successes and failures since the first workshop. We will then help you to adapt your approach and help your club to ‘keep the flame burning’ with a revised action plan.

The workshops will be facilitated by Svend Elkjaer, the founder and Managing Director of the Sports Marketing Network (SMN).

SMN provides information on how to make your club or facility more viable, vibrant and visible, sharing best practice across all sports. It publishes newsletters, organises seminars and helps sports clubs and leisure centres with their commercial, communication and community activities.  

Over the last eight years more than 4,000 sports providers have benefitted from SMN's services attending our workshops and presentations, being mentored or receiving consultancy.

Here’s what some previous delegates at Svend’s Grow Your Club workshops said:

The first workshop will be run on 1830 – 2130 on Wednesday 11th June at Clackheaton Sports Club with the second on Tuesday 8th July (venue TBC). It's free to Pentathlon GB affiliated clubs and £10 for everyone else.

If you would like to book onto the workshops then please contact Pentathlon Development Officer – North, Rachael Hares rachael.hares@pentathlongb.org or 07590 444372.

We look forward to seeing you there!

A Bath-based sports consultancy, Fortitude Sports Consulting, has been appointed to oversee the operational delivery of next year’s Modern Pentathlon European Championships, which are being held at the University of Bath.
 
Former Olympic cyclist Simon Lillistone will act as Event Director of the championships for Fortitude. His role will include planning, organising and delivering the championships to time and within budget.
 
The 2015 European Championships will run from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European modern pentathletes to achieve the qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
 
It will see Europe’s finest pentathletes tackle fencing, swimming, riding and a run/shoot, all on the University of Bath’s Claverton Down campus, which is home to Pentathlon GB’s National Training Centre.
 
Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon, are running the championships on behalf of the European Confederation of Modern Pentathlon and with the support of UK Sport National Lottery Gold Event Series funding.
 
Lillistone, who represented Great Britain at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988 and again at the Barcelona Games four years later, will work closely with a local organising committee to deliver the event.
 
He said: “Fortitude Sports Consulting are pleased to have been asked to play such a key role in the delivery and planning of the European Championships, which are an opportunity on build on the UK’s strong sporting legacy from London 2012.”
 
Jon Austin, Pentathlon GB’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We’re delighted to have Fortitude Sports Consulting and Simon Lillistone working with us on the European Championships.
 
“They bring a wealth of event experience to the championships and we’re looking forward to working with them to deliver a world-class championships in Bath.”
 
Lillistone has a lifetime of sporting experience and has held several senior management positions in the sporting and events industries. At London 2012 he led the delivery of all cycling events in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
 
He built the London 2012 cycling team from its beginning, developing a vision that a whole team could unite around to help them in doing their jobs to Olympic standards. The events were delivered across six competition and one training venue, with a team of around 100 employed staff, 100 contractors and 2,000 volunteers.
 
Previously Lillistone led British Cycling’s Marketing, Communications & Commercial activities. He was also worked overseas as European Marketing and Sports Marketing Manager for California based Bell Sports / Giro.
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Pentathlon GB is excited to be working with British Shooting and England Athletics to develop combined running and shooting opportunities.  This is a unique development introducing a new competition format:  Run & Shoot!!

Over the next few months several pilot sessions are taking place which will provide you with an opportunity to have a go and take on a new challenge.  Be an innovator and take part, the competitions are open to everyone, of all ages, abilities and fitness, there really is something for everyone.

The events will provide training, progression and competition in a fun and friendly environment and are a great way to diversify your training and try something new whilst improving your fitness. 

Information on where and when the pilots are taking place and how to book yourself a place are here:

28th May - Ellesmere College

1st June - Roefield Leisure Centre, Clitheroe

8th June - Tudor Grange Leisure Centre, Solihull

18th June - Bishop Burton College

Contact Rachel Hares for more information and to enter rachel.hares@pentathlongb.org, 07590444372.

21st June - Plymouth College

Contact Miranda Palmer for more information and to enter miranda.palmer@pentathlongb.org, 07855957924.

Check us out on Facebook and Twitter

The sport of modern pentathlon will appear at a World University Championships for the first time in 2018 in its tetrathlon format.

Some 32 sports had expressed an interest in joining the World University Championships programme, a series of single sport championships held at different locations around the world every even-numbered year.

The decision to add modern pentathlon to the 50 sports already on the programme was made by the board of FISU (International University Sports Federation) in Brussels at the weekend.

It followed a presentation by Shiny Fang, Secretary General of the UIPM, the international federation for modern pentathlon, to the FISU board. She was joined by up and coming French athletes Geoffrey Magi and Anais Eudes.

Anthony Temple QC, Chairman of Pentathlon GB, said he was pleased with the news.

“This is an important step forward, at which I am delighted,” he said.

“Now it’s up to the universities to take advantage of this opportunity and develop our sport more widely, ideally at every university."

Tetrathlon is a variant of the sport that sees athletes competing in four of the five pentathlon disciplines - fencing, running, swimming and shooting.

Britain’s men couldn’t add to the team gold won by the women yesterday at the Modern Pentathlon World Junior Championships in Poland.
 
Joe Evans, back in action for the first time after a season hampered by injury, and Sam Curry came home in 16th and 21st respectively in the men’s individual final in Drzonków (today).
 
Evans made a bright start, emerging from the fencing in sixth place with 226 pentathlon points after scoring 21 victories from his 35 bouts. Curry also fenced well, winning 19 contests for 214 points and joint 13th.
 
Russia’s Egor Puchkarevskiy took an early lead, winning 25 contests worth 250 points.
 
Evans closed the gap on the Russian with the fastest swim of the day. His 200m freestyle time of 1:58.34 earned 345 points, moving him up to second behind Puchkarevskiy. Curry clocked 2:03.26, the eighth fastest time, to add 331 points to his total and climb to 10th.
 
With 11 time penalties and 25 obstacle penalties, Evans took 254 of the maximum 300 points from the riding discipline. That took his overall points total to 825, which saw him drop down to seventh going into the run/shoot.
 
Curry did better in the ride. He sustained 14 time penalties and 14 obstacle penalties to add 272 points to his total and stay 10th place. He went to the run/shoot on 817 points.
 
Evans started the run/shoot 52 seconds behind Puchkarevskiy, who continued to lead, with Curry a further eight seconds behind his team-mate.
 
But Evans’ run/shoot time of 12:25.38 saw him drop out of the top-10 and finish in 16th. Curry’s 12:27.46 saw him finish just outside the top-20 in 21st, as Puchkarevskiy hung on to take the title.

Yesterday the GB trio of Alice Fitton, Jo Muir and Francesca Summers won team gold, with Summers also finishing fourth in the individual competition.
 
 
Men’s individual results
Gold: Egor Puchkarevskiy (RUS) – 1455 points
Silver: Woongtae Jun (KOR) – 1452 points
Bronze: Oleg Naumov (RUS) - 1435 points
16th: Joe Evans (GBR) – 1380 points
21st: Sam Curry (GBR) – 1370 points
 
Team results
Gold: Korea
Silver: China
Bronze: Belarus
 
GB team
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 19, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Britain’s women secured team gold at the Modern Pentathlon World Junior Championships in Poland today (Saturday).
 
The trio of Francesca Summers, Jo Muir and Alice Fitton missed the individual medals in the women’s final in Drzonków, finishing fourth, eighth and 26th respectively.
 
But their cumulative scores saw them win the team gold at the championships.
 
It was a particularly impressive achievement for 18-year-old Summers, the youngest member of the British team in Drzonków.  
 
Her team gold at the World Junior Championships came just a week after she won individual bronze and helped the Pentathlon GB team to team gold at the World Youth A Championships in Budapest.
 
It was Fitton who made the best start of the Brits. She won 20 of her 35 fencing bouts to put her in joint ninth place with 220 pentathlon points.
 
Summers also fared well on the fencing piste, winning 18 of her contests for joint 13th and 208 points. Muir’s 14 wins saw her start her campaign in equal 26th place on 184 points. Lithuania’s Ieva Serapinaite was the early leader.
 
Fitton produced a strong 200m freestyle swim to climb up to fifth place. Her time of 2:11.40 was the second fastest of the day – it was only bettered by five-hundredths of a second by Hungary’s Zsofia Foldhazi, the defending World Junior champion and gold medallist at last year’s senior European Championships.
 
Fitton’s performance in the pool added 306 points to her total.
 
Summers’ swim time of 2:19.36 was the 17th fastest of the day, adding 282 points to her total and promoting her to 12th place overall.
 
Muir also climbed up the leaderboard. Her 2:15.50 was the eighth fastest and was worth 295 pentathlon points. That saw her climb to 20th place, with Ieva Serapinaite still in the lead.
 
With all three GB athletes in the top-20, prospects were looking good in the team competition.
 
It was Summers who went into the run/shoot as the highest placed of the British athletes.
 
She produced a composed performance in the riding arena to take 289 of the maximum 300 points. That pushed her up to eighth with a total of 779 points. She started the run/shoot 77 seconds behind leader, Ieva Serapinaite, who had a lead of 31 seconds over Foldhazi in second.
 
Muir added 276 points to her total in the ride, pushing her up to 16th overall on 755 points. She started the run/shoot 101 seconds after the leader.
 
But Fitton had a disappointing ride, accumulating 62 obstacle penalties and 34 time penalties to add 204 points to her total. That put her in 22nd, starting the run/shoot 126 seconds behind the leader.
 
Summers’ run/shoot time of 13:21.77 was the six fastest of day, promoting her to fourth overall. She finished 40 seconds behind Foldhazi, who retained her title.
 
Muir ended on a high note with a run/shoot of 13:24.78, the third best in the field, to finish eighth. Fitton’s 14:13.70 saw her finish 26th.
 
Tomorrow (Sunday) Sam Curry and Joe Evans contest the men’s final.
 
Women’s individual results
Gold: Zsofia Foldhazi (HUN) – 1318 points
Silver: Ieva Serapinaite (LTU) – 1308 points
Bronze: Anna Maliszewska (POL) – 1295 points
4th:  Francesca Summers (GBR) – 1278 points
8th: Jo Muir (GBR) – 1258 points
26th: Alice Fitton (GBR) – 1177 points
 
Women’s team results
Gold: GREAT BRITAIN (Alice Fitton, Jo Muir, Francesca Summers)
Silver: China
Bronze: Mexico
 
 
GB team
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 19, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Joe Evans and Sam Curry will fly the flag for Great Britain in the men’s final at the Modern Pentathlon World Junior Championships in Poland on Sunday (25 May).
 
The Pentathlon GB pair quailified from the semis in Drzonków today (Friday), but birthday boy Joe Choong and Tom Lees both missed out.
 
With three qualifying groups athletes had to secure a top-eight finish in each to be sure of progressing to Sunday’s final or rely on being one of the next 12 highest points scorers across the three groups.
 
On his 19th birthday, Joe Choong finished 12th in qualification group A with a score of 1080 points. His performances included the fastest 200m freestyle swim time of the competition today, with 1:58.80.
 
But he then faced an anxious wait to see if his points total would be high enough to progress.
 
Sam Curry came 11th in qualification group B with 1096 points, after coming joint third in the fencing and sixth in the swim.
 
All then rested on performances in qualification group C, where Joe Evans went into the run/shoot in 11th place and Tom Lees in 23rd.
 
Choong aside, Evans had been the only other athlete to break the two-minute mark in the pool, with a time of 1:59.71. He held on to 11th spot at the end of the run/shoot and his points total of 1110 was enough to see him progress.
 
Lees climbed a couple of places to 21st, but that wasn’t enough for him to reach the final.
 
And while Curry’s points total was good enough to see him join Evans in the final, Choong missed out.
 
Tomorrow (Saturday) the GB trio of Alice Fitton, Jo Muir and Francesca Summers compete in the women’s final.
 
 
GB team
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 19, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday 24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Three British women will contest the women’s final at the Modern Pentathlon World Junior Championships in Poland on Saturday (24 May).
 
Alice FItton, Francesca Summers and Jo Muir all qualified from the heats in Drzonków today, but Maili MacKenzie missed out.
 
Fitton qualified comfortably in semi-final A. She needed a top-12 place to be sure of progressing to Saturday’s final and she did it in style, crossing the line in third just two seconds behind Lithuanian heat winner Karolina Guzauskaite.
 
Her series included a ninth place in the fencing, with 18 wins from 32 bouts, the fastest 200m swimming time in the group with 2:12.40, and a run/shoot time of 14:07.30.  She scored a total of 978 pentathlon points.
 
Francesca Summers, fresh from helping the Pentathlon GB team to team gold at the World Youth A Championships under a week ago, also booked her place in the final at the World Juniors.
 
She produced the fastest run/shoot in group B, with a time of 13:19.61, to finish fourth overall with 980 points.
 
Team-mate Jo Muir came 17th in the same semi after producing the third fastest run/shoot in the semi. Her points total of 951 was enough to see her progress as one of the next 12 highest points scorers across the two semis.
 
But Maili Mackenzie missed out on qualifying from semi-final A, finishing 32nd with 752 points.
 
Tomorrow (Friday) sees the men’s semi-finals with Sam Curry and Joe Choong both in qualification group A, Joe Evans and Tom Lees in group B.
 
 
GB team
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 18, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

The British pairing of Tom Lees and Joe Choong were just edged out of the medals at the Modern Pentathlon World Junior Championships today (Wednesday).
 
The pair came home fourth in the men’s relay at Drzonków, Poland, missing out on bronze by just five seconds.
 
Lees and Choong had gone into the final disciplines in second place, but dropped down to fourth in the run/shoot.
 
The British pair had started the day well, finishing joint third in the fencing with 18 wins from 30 bouts for 229 pentathlon points.
 
They followed that up with an impressive performance in the pool setting the fastest 2x100m freestyle time of the day. Their 1:48.53 was more than two seconds quicker than the next fastest time, adding 375 points to their total and promoting them to second.
 
The GB pair kept up the pressure at the top of the leaderboard in the ride. Although they dropped 48 points from the maximum 300 in the riding arena, they still went into the run/shoot in second place.  
 
However, the event leaders Ilya Palazkov and Kirill Kasyanik of Belarus put in a good performance in the arena to extend their lead. They went into the run/shoot with a 61-point advantage over the Britons and so started the event 61 seconds ahead. Lees and Choong meanwhile started just three seconds ahead of Mexico and nine clear of the Germans.
 
But it was the German team that took gold, with the British pair’s run/shoot time of 11:18.67 seeing them just miss out of the medals.
 
Tomorrow the GB women return to action in the individual qualifiers.
 
Men’s relay results
Gold: Christian Zillekens & Marvin Faly Dogue (GER) – 1496 points
Silver: Ilya Palazkov & Kirill Kasyanik (BLR) – 1490 points
Bronze:  Mingyu Choi & Woongtae Jun (KOR) – 1483 points
4th:  Tom Lees & Joe Choong (GBR) – 1478 points
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 18, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Britain’s Jo Muir and Alice Fitton missed out on the medals in the opening competition of the Modern Pentathlon World Junior Championships today (Tuesday) finishing seventh in the women’s team relay in Drzonków, Poland.
 
“Today was a learning experience for them,” said Istvan Nemeth, Pentathlon GB’s women’s head coach. “They can learn from today. If you don’t fall you don’t find out how to stand up again. “
 
Fitton performed well across the day, but Muir struggled with the fencing and riding. The pair went into the final disciplines, the run/shoot, in sixth some 80 seconds behind Italian leaders Francesca Tognetti and Gloria Tocchi and left themselves with too much work to do to work their way up the leaderboard.
 
Earlier the British pairing were seventh after the fencing after winning 14 of their 26 bouts to earn 218 pentathlon points.
 
They recorded the second fastest 2x100m freestyle relay swim time  – 2:04.35 – a time that was only bettered by the Russians, to earn a further 327 points, promoting them to fifth place.
 
But the GB pairing could only take 240 points from a maximum 300 in the riding arena, which saw them drop down the field to sixth place going into the run/shoot.
 
They started the run/shoot a minute and 20 seconds behind the Italian event leaders and their combined time of 13:21.65 added 499 points to their total to see them finish seventh out of the 14 teams.
 
The pair will be back in action in the women’s individual qualifiers on Thursday. Tomorrow the men make their first appearance of their championships.
 
Gold: Francesca Tognetti & Gloria Tocchi (ITA) – 1391 points
Silver: Marie Oteiza & Adele Stern (FRA) – 1373 points
Bronze:  Sehee Kim & Sunwoo Kim (KOR) – 1357 points
7th: Jo Muir & Alice Fitton (GBR) – 1284 points
 
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 18, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

In particularly bad weather conditions the largest group of girls and boys at World Youth A level (90 girls and 99 boys) split into three groups per gender for qualification to the finals.  The weather was so bad it brought about a postponement for the girls Combined Event until the following day.  Three girls Francesca Summers, Eilidh Prise and Kerenza Bryson qualified for the final with Dani Chattenton just missing out on final place despite a very spirited effort throughout the semi final.

Francesca Summers produced a solid performance in the final to take the Bronze Medal, achieving  the UIPM Youth Olympic qualification standard to join Eilidh Prise who gained her qualification standard at the European Continental Championships.  In the final on Saturday the girls team battled hard to take the well deserved team Gold (Summers, Prise and Bryson)! 

In the boy's competition only Henry Choong qualified for the final with William Eccleston just missing out and Josh Miller retiring from qualification after the fence due to injury.  Henry finished 28th in the final on Sunday.

For all the results from the competition click here.

Twenty-year-old Joe Evans contests his first major competition of the year when he represents Great Britain at the World Junior Championships in Poland next week (20 to 26 May).
 
Evans, who is a member of an eight-strong Pentathlon GB team competing in Drzonków, won bronze on his senior World Cup debut in the USA last year, but his 2014 campaign has been disrupted by injury.
 
Nevertheless, he goes to Poland at four in the world junior rankings, one place above team-mate Sam Curry, who will also be in action in Drzonków.
 
“It will be my first big competition of the year and I’m looking forward to it,” said Evans, who finished seventh in the individual contest at the 2013 World Juniors and whose performances last year earned him Pentathlon GB’s Best Newcomer of the Year Award.
 
“We’ve got a really strong team this year, so we’ve got a good chance in the relay and the team events,” he added.
 
Evans and Curry are joined in the men’s competitions by Joe Choong, currently 27th in the world junior rankings. The trio are all University of Bath students and will be joined in the GB team by Tom Lees, who was named Oxford University Sport’s Sportsman of the Year in February.
 
The GB women’s team will also travel to Poland in good heart. Alice Fitton and Jo Muir joined forces to win team relay gold at last year’s World Junior Championships at Székesfehérvár in Hungary.
 
Fitton was the highest placed GB woman in the women's final in ninth last year and has since competed at her first senior World Cup at Kecskemét in Hungary.
 
Muir said: “Training has been going really well. We’re feeling fit and looking forward to it. I’ve competed at quite a few senior competitions this year, so when you go back to a junior event, it should make it a bit easier.”
 
Muir is joined in the team by another young Scot, Maili MacKenzie, as well as by Francesca Summers, who is currently competing at the Youth A World Championships in Budapest.
 
 
GB team for World Junior Championships
 
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 18, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Olympic silver medal winning modern pentathlete Heather Fell is about to undertake another major sporting challenge as she tackles part of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.
 
Fell, who won her silver medal for Great Britain at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, will join team Jamaica Get All Right crew for the remainder of the circumnavigation.
 
The Clipper Race is renowned as one of toughest challenges in sport and Fell hopes the skills she learned as a pentathlete will stand her in good stead.
 
“My small amount of sailing experience is insignificant in the scale of this but I can't wait for the challenge,” she said, “The taster I experienced during the Clipper Race training has made me realise what I'm letting myself in for. I've got a mixture of extreme nerves combined with huge excitement.”
 
Fell will join Jamaica get All Right crew in its home port of Port Antonio in Jamaica for the 13th race in the series to New York, which gets underway on 24 May.
 
She will also be a crew member for the last three races, which will see the fleet depart New York to start its long awaited final homecoming leg on 7 June, racing via Northern Ireland and the Netherlands to arrive in London on 12 July, where it originally started on 1 September, 2013.
 
Fell, originally from Devon, UK, first stepped on a Clipper Race boat as a child in the inaugural race in 1996 when she visited the fleet in Plymouth before it set off round the world.
 
This is the former world number one’s first major sporting challenge since she retired from modern pentathlon in January, although she completed the 982-mile John O’Groats to Land’s End bike ride in nine days a year ago to raise money for the Bath Rugby Foundation.
 
As well as winning Olympic silver, Fell’s impressive modern pentathlon career also included individual gold at the 2003 World Junior Championships in Athens, and World Cup Final silvers in Portugal in 2008 and in China in 2012.
 
You can find out more about the race at www.clipperroundtheworld.com

GB coach Istvan Nemeth drew plenty of positives from the women’s final at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup in Kecskemét, Hungary today (Saay).
 
Britain’s Kate French produced a strong run/shoot, clocking the fourth fastest time of the competition, to finish 18th overall. And London 2012 Olympian and former world champion Mhairi Spence came through her first international competition unscathed since undergoing ankle surgery. Spence whose last compeion was the World Championships in August, ended the day 32nd.
 
“Kate has competed in five competitions this year, winning three medals and finishing sixth at the World Cup in Chengdu two weeks ago,” said Nemeth, the GB team women’s head coach. “She was doing a decent job today and ended with a good run/shoot, but she looked a little tired and showed a bit of flatness for the first time.”
 
Spence was competing well until her campaign was derailed in a riding arena that had witnessed a torrential downpour. Out of contention for the medals, she completed the run/shoot course at a steady pace to protect her ankle.
 
“The semi-final was good on Thursday and Mhairi produced some good performances today, but she isn’t yet 100 per cent fit,” said Nemeth “She ran steadily to make sure she finished the competition and she did that."
 
Spence was 16th after the fencing, winning 17 of her 35 contests to earn 202 pentathlon points. French could only win 12 of her bouts, putting her 35th with 172 points.
 
The early pacesetters were Italy’s Gloria Tocchi and Xiaonan Zhang of China, who won 25 contests for 250 points.
 
The British pair both jumped up the leaderboard in the swim. Spence’s 200m freestyle time of 2:19.39 was the 11th fastest of the day. It added 282 points to her total, promoting her to 12th overall.
 
French’s time of 2:21.98 was the 16th fastest time of the day, giving her an extra 275 points and putting her 23rd going to the riding arena. Tocchi continued to lead the field.
 
French remained in 23rd place going into the run/shoot. She dropped only seven points from the maximum 300 in the ride and started the run/shoot 99 seconds behind the next event leader, Oktawia Nowacka from Poland.
 
But Spence could only take 253 points from the ride, so she dropped down the field to 25th and went to the run/shoot 102 seconds off the lead.
 
French’s run/shoot time of 12:30.20 was the fourth fastest time in the field, promoting her five places to 18th overall.  Spence took the run steadily, coming home in 14:07.41 for 32nd place, while completing her first competition on her return from injury.
 
Nowacka comfortably held on to her lead to continue her strong season to take gold.
 
Kecskemét women’s final results
Gold: Oktawia Nowacka (POL) – 1379 points
Silver: Xiaonan Zhang (CHN) – 1352 points
Bronze: Lena Schoneborn (GER) – 1350 points
18th: Kate French (GBR) – 1290 points
32nd: Mhairi Spence (GBR) – 1190 points
 
 
Kecskemét World Cup Schedule
 
Thursday 1 May: women’s qualification
Friday 2 May: men’s qualification
Saay 3 May: women’s final
Sunday 4 May: men’s final
Monday 5 May: mixed relay
 
 
GB team for Kecskemét
(Name – date of birth, from – lives)
 
Alice Fitton – 05.08.94, Atherton, Greater Manchester - Bath
Kate French – 11.02.91, Meopham, Gravesend – Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness - Bath
 
Luke Tasker – 28.01.94 – Waddington, [censored]heroe, Lancashire - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, north east London- Bath
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

The young British pairing of Tom Toolis and Luke Tasker both missed out on places in the men's final of the Modern Pentathlon World Cup in Hungary on Sunday.
 
With 89 men competing, qualification for the final in Kecskemét was tough challenge. Athletes had to secure a top-eight finish in each of today's three qualification groups to be sure of progressing to Sunday’s final or be one of the next top-12 points scorers across the three groups.
 
Tom Toolis, aged 21 and competing at only his third World Cup, came closest. He ended the day 14th in qualification group A, but his points total of 1124 was enough to see him through.
 
Toolis was joint 18th in the fencing, winning 13 of his 28 contests, and climbed to 13th in the swim, where his 200m freestyle time of 2:03.56 was the fifth fastest.
 
His run/shoot time of 11:40.31 saw him finish 36 seconds behind Woo Jin Lee of Korea and Hungary’s Peter Tibolya, who crossed the line together, closely followed by the remainder of the top-10 finishers who were separated by just six seconds.
 
Twenty-year-old Luke Tasker, contesting only his second World Cup, finished 25th in group B with 1069 points.
 
He started off with the fourth fastest swim time in qualification group B, clocking 2:02.50, but only won eight of his 29 fencing contests dropping to 27th overall. His run/shoot time of 11:59.84 promoted him to 25th, but that wasn’t enough for him to progress.
 
Tomorrow (Saturday) Britain's Kate French and Mhairi Spence contest the women’s final.
 
Kecskemét World Cup Schedule
 
Thursday 1 May: women’s qualification
Friday 2 May: men’s qualification
Saturday 3 May: women’s final
Sunday 4 May: men’s final
Monday 5 May: mixed relay
 
 
GB team for Kecskemét
(Name – date of birth, from – lives)
 
Alice Fitton – 05.08.94, Atherton, Greater Manchester - Bath
Kate French – 11.02.91, Meopham, Gravesend – Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness - Bath
 
Luke Tasker – 28.01.94 – Waddington, Clitheroe, Lancashire - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, north east London- Bath
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Mhairi Spence, Britain’s 2012 modern pentathlon world champion, qualified comfortably for Saturday’s final in her first World Cup after a spell on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
 
The London 2012 Olympian came home in ninth in group B in Kecskemét, Hungary today (Thursday), comfortably securing the top-12 spot that made sure she progressed to the final. It was her first international competition since last year’s World Championships in Chinese Taipei in August.
 
Team-mate Kate French also qualified comfortably in sixth place in the same group, but 19-year-old World Cup debutant Alice Fitton didn’t progress from group A.
 
Spence started the day with eighth with a 200m freestyle time of 2:19.44. French was 17th with 2:21.49. Spence moved to the top of the leaderboard after the fencing, winning 24 of her 34 contests. French’s 15 victories put her 15th going into the run/shoot.
 
French produced the second fastest run/shoot time in the group – 12:40.21 – to make sure of her place in the final, while Spence eased in the final with a time of 13:40.98.
 
“Mhairi and Kate were both impressive today,” said Istvan Nemeth, Pentathlon GB women’s head coach. “It’s all about getting through to the final and they both did that.”
 
Fitton was competing at her first World Cup and found herself in group A alongside athletes like Lena Schoneborn, Germany’s 2008 Olympic champion, and Victoria Tereshuk, Ukraine’s 2013 World Cup Final winner.
 
Fitton, just returning from an ankle injury, won 11 of her 33 fencing bouts for joint 32nd place but then climbed to 21st with the fastest 200m freestyle time of the day – 2:11.80. She ended her first World Cup campaign with a run/shoot time of 14:03.99 to finish 25th in group A.
 
“Alice has never competed at this level before and she did really well at her first World Cup,” said Nemeth.
 
Tomorrow (Friday) sees the young GB pairing of Luke Tasker and Tom Toolis contest the men’s qualification event.
 
 
Kecskemét World Cup Schedule
 
Thursday 1 May: women’s qualification
Friday 2 May: men’s qualification
Saturday 3 May: women’s final
Sunday 4 May: men’s final
Monday 5 May: mixed relay
 
 
GB team for Kecskemét
(Name – date of birth, from – lives)
 
Alice Fitton – 05.08.94, Atherton, Greater Manchester - Bath
Kate French – 11.02.91, Meopham, Gravesend – Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness - Bath
 
Luke Tasker – 28.01.94 – Waddington, Clitheroe, Lancashire - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, north east London- Bath
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Dominic Mahony, Olympic bronze medallist and Britain’s modern pentathlon team manager at the last four Olympic Games, said he was proud and honoured to receive his MBE at Buckingham Palace today (Thursday)
 
Mahony was made a Member of the British Empire for services to modern pentathlon in the New Year’s Honours List and was presented with the medal by the Princess Royal.
 
It is a fitting reward for a man who has been involved with the sport for more than 30 years and a double celebration coming just five days after his 50th birthday.
 
“I was proud, honoured and delighted today,” said Mahony, who is a Vice Chair of the board of Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon.
 
Mahony competed at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and Barcelona Games in 1992. He was a member of the British team that won team bronze in Seoul along with Ric Phelps and Graham Brookhouse.
 
He retired from the competing in modern pentathlon in 1994 but maintained his interest in the sport and in 1997 he was made chairman of the International Federation of Modern Pentathlon’s Athletes Committee.
 
He was team manager of the British modern pentathlon team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, when Stephanie Cook won gold and Kate Allenby bronze. He performed the same role at the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, with British pentathletes winning medals on each occasion.
 
And he hasn’t lost his hunger for sport – he is currently training for the Henley Classic 2.1km endurance swim at the end of June.
 
Mahony lives in Watlington, Oxfordshire with his wife Katie, a former pentathlete, and their three children. He is a consultant and director at the human performance consultancy Lane4.
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Sam Curry and Tom Toolis made sure Britain’s campaign at the Modern Pentathlon European Championships ended on a high note by winning bronze in the men’s relay in Hungary this afternoon (Tuesday).
 
It means the Pentathlon GB team will come home from the championships in Székesfehérvár with two medals, following the mixed relay silver medal won by Samantha Murray and Joe Evans yesterday (Monday).
 
The men started their campaign today in the pool, where Curry and Toolis’ 2x100m freestyle relay time of 1:52.82 was only bettered by the Poles. The British team started the day with 362 pentathlon points.
 
The young British pair also fenced well, winning 24 of their 40 contests for 230 points and second place. The Russian team won 28 contests to take the lead overall, with Great Britain still in second.
 
In the riding, the French team were the only ones to go clear in the allowed time to take the maximum 300 points. Curry and Toolis both rode well to add 291 points to their total, keeping them in second overall. They were 19 points behind the Russians and so started the run/shoot 19 seconds behind them.
 
Some fast shooting by France’s Valentin Belaud enabled him to overtake Curry on their second visit to the shooting range to move into second. But Curry and then Tom Toolis after him, were able keep a big enough margin between them and Belarus in fourth to bring home bronze.
 
The young British pair, both students at the University of Bath, clocked a time of 11:05.68 in the run/shoot to make sure of bronze. Ilia Frolov, who won the men's individual silver medal on Sunday, crossed the finish line to take men's relay gold for Russia.
 
The women’s relay also took place today. Jo Muir and Alice Fitton – the bronze medallists at last month’s European Juniors – finished eighth.
 
Their competition started in the fencing hall, where Muir and Fitton won 11 of their 40 fencing bouts to start the day in 11th place with 165 points.
 
The British pair produced the second fastest swimming time of the day – 2:04.88 – to add 326 points to their total and move up to second. The time was only bettered by the Ukrainian team, who led overall.
 
The Brits were one of only two teams to go clear in the allowed time in the riding arena to net the full 300 riding points, along with Lithuania. They remained in 10th place in the leaderboard, but closed the gaps on the other teams ahead of the run/shoot.
 
Fitton and Muir battled hard in the run/shoot, recording a time of 12:32.48, to end the day in eighth.
 
The British team are based at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath.
 
The 2014 World Championships take place in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of September.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
Men’s relay results
Gold: Russia (Ilia Frolov & Oleg Naumov) – 1558 points
Silver: France (Valentin Prades & Valentin Belaud) – 1539 points
Bronze: Great Britain (Sam Curry & Tom Toolis) – 1518 points
 
 
Women’s relay results
Gold: Ukraine (Victoria Tereshuk & Anastasiya Spas) – 1407 points
Silver: Germany (Lena Schoneborn & Annika Schleu) – 1400 points
Bronze: Russia (Anna Savchenko & Ganna Buriak) -  1387 points
8th: Great Britain (Jo Muir & Alice Fitton) – 1339 points
 
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 

Samantha Murray and Joe Evans won Britain’s first medal of the Modern Pentathlon European Championships when they took mixed relay silver in Hungary today (Monday).
 
The British pair went into the run/shoot at Székesfehérvár with a 22-second lead over the Lithuanian team, made up of reigning Olympic champion and world number one Laura Asadauskaite and reigning world champion Justinas Kinderis.
 
Despite putting up a spirited battle, the British pair were ultimately denied gold by just three seconds.
 
Murray, Britain’s London 2012 Olympic silver medallist, held off run/shoot specialist Asadauskaite for her two shoots and two 800m legs.
 
But Kinderis passed 20-year-old Evans on their first running leg and although Evans shot well and hung in doggedly, he couldn’t overhaul the Lithuanian.
 
“It was a brilliant day and it was nice for us both to finish on a high note here,” said Evans, who competed in the mixed relay the day after contesting the men’s individual final yesterday (Sunday).
 
“I’m pretty shattered now. It was tough to do two days in a row, but we’ve been training well and I was prepared for it,” he said.
 
“We had a good fence, we won the swim and we both pulled together on the ride. We couldn’t quite hold it on the combined event, but we’re both really pleased with the medal.”
 
The British pair made a strong start, winning 25 of their 44 fencing bouts to accumulate 220 pentathlon points, putting them joint third alongside Lithuania. Ukraine and Belarus, were the joint leaders with 27 fencing victories each.
 
Evans produced a strong finish to win the 2x100m freestyle swim and move Britain to the top of the leaderboard. Murray trailed France’s Elodie Clouvel at the halfway mark, but Evans’ powerful finish overhauled Simon Casse.
 
The British pair’s time of 1:53.98 was worth 359 points and saw them move into a six-point lead over Ukraine, with Belarus a further eight points back.
 
Murray and Evans also produced a near flawless performance in the riding arena, dropping just one point from the maximum 300.
 
That kept them in the lead and they started the run/shoot with 22-second advantage over Lithuania in second, and a 49-second lead over Hungary in third.
 
Murray and Evans completed the run/shoot in 11:30.82 to take silver with Poland and Ukraine sharing bronze.
 
Tomorrow (Tuesday) sees the final day of competition at the 2014 European Championships, with both the men’s and women’s relay taking place. Sam Curry and Tom Toolis contest the men’s event, with Alice Fitton and Jo Muir going in the women’s competition.
 
The British team are based at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath.
 
The 2014 World Championships take place in Warsaw, Poland at the beginning of September.
 
The 2015 European Championships will take place at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August and will be the first opportunity for European athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the Rio 2016 Games.
 
Mixed relay results
Gold: Lithuania (Laura Asadauskaite & Justinas Kinderis) – 1491 points
Silver: Great Britain (Samantha Murray & Joe Evans) – 1488 points
Bronze: Ukraine (Iryna Khokhlova & Dmytro Kirpulyanskyy) – 1458 points
   Poland (Oktawia Nowacka & Lukasz Klekot) – 1458 points
 
 
British team for 2014 European Championships
 
Individual competitions
 
Women
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness – Bath
Freyja Prentice – 20.05.90, – Inverurie near Aberdeen - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
 
Men
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke -  03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93,  Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
 
Team relays
Women
Alice Fitton  - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Jo Muir - 30.08.94, Dumfries -  Bath
 
Men
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
 
Mixed team relay
Samantha Murray
Joe Evans
 
 
2014 European Championships schedule
Thursday 10 July: women’s heats
Friday 11 July: men’s heats
Saturday 12 July: women’s final (incl team competition)
Sunday 13 July: men’s final (incl team competition)
Monday 14 July: mixed relay
Tuesday 15 July: men’s & women’s team relays
 
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

Two talented young modern pentathletes have been selected to represent Great Britain at this summer’s Youth Olympic Games in China.
 
Francesca Summers and Henry Choong are members of the 33-strong Team GB team competing across 14 sports at the Games, which take place in Nanjing from 16 to 28 August.
 
Both young athletes are currently on Pentathlon GB’s World Class Podium Potential Programme.
 
Eighteen-year-old Francesca becomes the first British woman to compete in the pentathlon at the Youth Olympic Games.
Her selection follows impressive performances this year which saw her win individual bronze at the Youth A World Championships in Hungary in May and then come fourth at the World Junior Championships in Poland. She helped the British team win team gold on both occasions. She also won silver at last month’s British Junior Championships.
 
Francesca, who lives in Dorking and is a student at Hurtwood House School, said: “Getting to any sporting event with the word Olympics in the title is pretty special. The Youth Olympic Games have only taken place once before in 2010, so the enormity of the occasion has not really sunk in yet.
 
“British women have a tremendous record in the Olympics since they first competed in the modern pentathlon in Sydney 2000.
 
“For many of the coaches and Pentathlon GB personnel, this is almost second nature,” she added. “But for me it's all new and exciting.  And I am really looking forward to the challenge.
 
“Watching the Olympics in London two years ago was amazing and a huge inspiration for me. Hopefully Nanjing can be another step on my way to competing at an Olympics, so I’m really excited to represent Team GB in Nanjing.”
 
Henry Choong achieved the qualifying standard for the Youth Olympics by finishing sixth at the European Youth Olympic Games Qualification competition in Portugal in September.
 
He won bronze at the 2012 Youth B European Championships in Poland and was the only British male athlete to reach the final at the Youth A World Championships in Hungary in May, where he came home in 28th. He also won the under-17 title at this year’s British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships, held at the inspirational setting of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
 
The 17-year-old is the younger brother of Joe Choong, who has won back-to-back titles at the GB Open and makes his senior international debut at the European Championships in Hungary this week.   
 
Henry is from Orpington and took up pentathlon five years ago when he started studying at Whitgift School in South Croydon.
 
He said: “It’s been my dream to make the team for Nanjing ever since I heard about the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore four years ago, so I’m delighted to be selected.
 
“It’s such a privilege to be selected for Team GB and to be part of the Youth Olympic Games,” he added. “It’s my first multi-sport Games so that adds to the excitement and I can’t wait to experience Olympic life.
 
“I’m hoping to compete well and if I have a good fence I really believe I can get a medal. I am so pleased my parents and grandparents will be coming out to Nanjing to support me and share the excitement."
 
Laura Gomersall, Team GB’s modern pentathlon team leader for the Games and head of modern pentathlon at Whitgift School, added: “This is the athletes’ first ever multi-sport Games and I know the Olympic rings mean a lot to them.
 
“They saw their role models compete in London two years ago and they’ll both be looking to match that and embrace Team GB.  Nanjing will be the biggest competition of their season so far and they’ll both be going in with high medal hopes.”
 
The modern pentathlon competition in Nanjing will feature four of the sport’s five disciplines, starting with a round robin fence, followed by a 200m freestyle swim and then a run/shoot, with athletes completing four sets of shooting interspersed with four 800m runs.
 
It will feature men’s and women’s competitions and a mixed team competition.
 
Some 3600 athletes aged 15 to 18 from more than 200 countries will take part in Nanjing at the second summer Youth Olympic Games.
 
For further information about modern pentathlon please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
For further information about Team GB please see  www.teamgb.com or contact Laura Meech – laura.meech@teamgb.com

For further information about the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games please go to www.nanjing2014.org/en
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org
 
 

Pentathlon GB is excited to be working with British Shooting and England Athletics to develop combined running and shooting opportunities.  This is a unique development introducing a new competition format:  Run & Shoot!!

Over the next few months several pilot sessions are taking place which will provide you with an opportunity to have a go and take on a new challenge.  Be an innovator and take part, the competitions are open to everyone, of all ages, abilities and fitness, there really is something for everyone.

The events will provide training, progression and competition in a fun and friendly environment and are a great way to diversify your training and try something new whilst improving your fitness. 

Information on where and when the pilots are taking place and how to book yourself a place are here:

28th May - Ellesmere College

1st June - Roefield Leisure Centre, Clitheroe

8th June - Tudor Grange Leisure Centre, Solihull

18th June - Bishop Burton College

Contact Rachel Hares for more information and to enter rachel.hares@pentathlongb.org, 07590444372.

21st June - Plymouth College

Contact Miranda Palmer for more information and to enter miranda.palmer@pentathlongb.org, 07855957924.

Check us out on Facebook and Twitter

Britain’s women secured team gold at the Modern Pentathlon World Junior Championships in Poland today (Saturday).
 
The trio of Francesca Summers, Jo Muir and Alice Fitton missed the individual medals in the women’s final in Drzonków, finishing fourth, eighth and 26th respectively.
 
But their cumulative scores saw them win the team gold at the championships.
 
It was a particularly impressive achievement for 18-year-old Summers, the youngest member of the British team in Drzonków.  
 
Her team gold at the World Junior Championships came just a week after she won individual bronze and helped the Pentathlon GB team to team gold at the World Youth A Championships in Budapest.
 
It was Fitton who made the best start of the Brits. She won 20 of her 35 fencing bouts to put her in joint ninth place with 220 pentathlon points.
 
Summers also fared well on the fencing piste, winning 18 of her contests for joint 13th and 208 points. Muir’s 14 wins saw her start her campaign in equal 26th place on 184 points. Lithuania’s Ieva Serapinaite was the early leader.
 
Fitton produced a strong 200m freestyle swim to climb up to fifth place. Her time of 2:11.40 was the second fastest of the day – it was only bettered by five-hundredths of a second by Hungary’s Zsofia Foldhazi, the defending World Junior champion and gold medallist at last year’s senior European Championships.
 
Fitton’s performance in the pool added 306 points to her total.
 
Summers’ swim time of 2:19.36 was the 17th fastest of the day, adding 282 points to her total and promoting her to 12th place overall.
 
Muir also climbed up the leaderboard. Her 2:15.50 was the eighth fastest and was worth 295 pentathlon points. That saw her climb to 20th place, with Ieva Serapinaite still in the lead.
 
With all three GB athletes in the top-20, prospects were looking good in the team competition.
 
It was Summers who went into the run/shoot as the highest placed of the British athletes.
 
She produced a composed performance in the riding arena to take 289 of the maximum 300 points. That pushed her up to eighth with a total of 779 points. She started the run/shoot 77 seconds behind leader, Ieva Serapinaite, who had a lead of 31 seconds over Foldhazi in second.
 
Muir added 276 points to her total in the ride, pushing her up to 16th overall on 755 points. She started the run/shoot 101 seconds after the leader.
 
But Fitton had a disappointing ride, accumulating 62 obstacle penalties and 34 time penalties to add 204 points to her total. That put her in 22nd, starting the run/shoot 126 seconds behind the leader.
 
Summers’ run/shoot time of 13:21.77 was the six fastest of day, promoting her to fourth overall. She finished 40 seconds behind Foldhazi, who retained her title.
 
Muir ended on a high note with a run/shoot of 13:24.78, the third best in the field, to finish eighth. Fitton’s 14:13.70 saw her finish 26th.
 
Tomorrow (Sunday) Sam Curry and Joe Evans contest the men’s final.
 
Women’s individual results
Gold: Zsofia Foldhazi (HUN) – 1318 points
Silver: Ieva Serapinaite (LTU) – 1308 points
Bronze: Anna Maliszewska (POL) – 1295 points
4th:  Francesca Summers (GBR) – 1278 points
8th: Jo Muir (GBR) – 1258 points
26th: Alice Fitton (GBR) – 1177 points
 
Women’s team results
Gold: GREAT BRITAIN (Alice Fitton, Jo Muir, Francesca Summers)
Silver: China
Bronze: Mexico
 
 
GB team
 
Women
Alice Fitton  (Age 19, from Atherton, Greater Manchester/ lives Bath)
Maili MacKenzie (Age 19, Dumfries/Bath)
Jo Muir  (Age 19, Dumfries/ Bath)
Francesca Summers (Age 18, Dorking)
 
Men
Joe Choong (Age 19, Orpington/Bath)
Sam Curry  (Age 20, Salfords, near Redhill /Bath
Joe Evans (Age 20,  Whitchurch, Shropshire/ Bath)
Tom Lees  (Age 20, Sanderstead/Oxford)
 
World Junior Championships schedule
 
Tuesday 20 May: women’s relay
Wednesday 21 May: men’s relay
Thursday 22 May: women’s semi-finals
Friday 23 May: men’s semi-finals
Saturday24 May: women’s final
Sunday 25 May: men’s final
Monday 26 May: mixed relay
 
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport   of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha  Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org

In particularly bad weather conditions the largest group of girls and boys at World Youth A level (90 girls and 99 boys) split into three groups per gender for qualification to the finals.  The weather was so bad it brought about a postponement for the girls Combined Event until the following day.  Three girls Francesca Summers, Eilidh Prise and Kerenza Bryson qualified for the final with Dani Chattenton just missing out on final place despite a very spirited effort throughout the semi final.

Francesca Summers produced a solid performance in the final to take the Bronze Medal, achieving  the UIPM Youth Olympic qualification standard to join Eilidh Prise who gained her qualification standard at the European Continental Championships.  In the final on Saturday the girls team battled hard to take the well deserved team Gold (Summers, Prise and Bryson)! 

In the boy's competition only Henry Choong qualified for the final with William Eccleston just missing out and Josh Miller retiring from qualification after the fence due to injury.  Henry finished 28th in the final on Sunday.

For all the results from the competition click here.

Dominic Mahony, Olympic bronze medallist and Britain’s modern pentathlon team manager at the last four Olympic Games, said he was proud and honoured to receive his MBE at Buckingham Palace today (Thursday)
 
Mahony was made a Member of the British Empire for services to modern pentathlon in the New Year’s Honours List and was presented with the medal by the Princess Royal.
 
It is a fitting reward for a man who has been involved with the sport for more than 30 years and a double celebration coming just five days after his 50th birthday.
 
“I was proud, honoured and delighted today,” said Mahony, who is a Vice Chair of the board of Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon.
 
Mahony competed at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and Barcelona Games in 1992. He was a member of the British team that won team bronze in Seoul along with Ric Phelps and Graham Brookhouse.
 
He retired from the competing in modern pentathlon in 1994 but maintained his interest in the sport and in 1997 he was made chairman of the International Federation of Modern Pentathlon’s Athletes Committee.
 
He was team manager of the British modern pentathlon team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, when Stephanie Cook won gold and Kate Allenby bronze. He performed the same role at the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, with British pentathletes winning medals on each occasion.
 
And he hasn’t lost his hunger for sport – he is currently training for the Henley Classic 2.1km endurance swim at the end of June.
 
Mahony lives in Watlington, Oxfordshire with his wife Katie, a former pentathlete, and their three children. He is a consultant and director at the human performance consultancy Lane4.
 
For further information please contact the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 01225 383518 or at press@matchtight.co.uk
 
You can also find more information about Pentathlon GB at www.pentathlongb.org buy liking us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PentathlonGB or following us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/PentathlonGB
 
 
Notes for editors
 
 
·      Pentathlon GB is the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern pentathlon.
·      Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing swimming, riding and a run/shoot – all in one day.
·      Britain’s pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha Murray won silver at London 2012.
·      Pentathlon GB receives National Lottery funding from UK Sport and Sport England. You can find out more about UK Sport at www.uksport.gov.uk and about Sport England at www.sportengland.org