GB pentathletes prepare for World Championships
7th August 2014
An 11-strong Pentathlon GB squad featuring Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray and former world champion Mhairi Spence has been selected to compete at next month’s World Championships in Poland.
The championships, which run from 1 to 9 September, are the last major competition before athletes begin the process of trying to qualify places for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The Pentathlon GB team will arrive in Warsaw as reigning women’s team champions, after Kate French, Murray and Spence struck gold at last year’s competition in Chinese Taipei.
That trio returns to action in the individual competition in Warsaw, where they are joined by Freyja Prentice. Three of the four will be nominated scorers towards the GB team score in Warsaw.
Britain’s other world championship medallist last year was Nick Woodbridge, who won individual silver. Like last year, he faces a late fitness test on an injury before a final decision is made on his participation at Warsaw.
He is joined in the men’s individual competition by the young trio of Jamie Cooke, Sam Curry and Joe Evans.
Samantha Murray and Alice Fitton will get Britain’s campaign underway in the first competition of the championships, the women’s relay, on Monday 1 September. Joe Choong and Tom Toolis will contest the men’s relay the following day.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “We always aspire to medal, whether in individual competitions or as teams.”
The team are now continuing their preparations for the championships at their altitude training base at Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees.
The British athletes will begin their journey to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games in December with the first of three national ranking competitions, taking place at the University of Bath. They will help determine selections for major competitions on the 2015 international calendar, when the first qualification places are up for grabs.
They include the 2015 European Championships at the University of Bath from 17 to 23 August, when the top-eight men and women will achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for Rio.
The British team won two medals at last month’s European Championships in Hungary, where Murray and Evans won mixed relay silver, with Curry and Toolis collecting the men’s relay bronze.
Pentathlon GB team for the 2014 World Championships
Women’s individual
(three scorers to be nominated towards team event score)
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’s individual
(three scorers to be nominated towards team event score)
Jamie Cooke - 03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93, Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Nick Woodbridge * – 01.07.86, Telford, Shropshire - Bath
* subject to medical & fitness check
Women’s relay
Alice Fitton - 05.08.94 from Atherton, Greater Manchester - lives Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.89, Clitheroe, Lancashire – Bath
Men’s relay
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
Mixed relay
To be decided
World Championships schedule
Monday 1 September: women’s relay
Tuesday 2 September: men’s relay
Wednesday 3 September: women’s semi-finals
Thursday 4 September: men’s semi-finals
Friday 5 September: women’s final (including team event)
Saturday 6 September: men’s final (including team event)
Sunday 7 September: mixed relay