Curry and Toolis win bronze at European Championships
15th July 2014
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