Evans and Curry progress to men’s final
23rd May 2014
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