GB miss out on opening day of World Championships
1st September 2014
Britain’s Samantha Murray and Alice Fitton missed out on the medals in the opening competition of the 2014 Modern Pentathlon World Championships in Poland today (Monday).
The pair ended the day in 13th place in the women’s relay at the championships in Warsaw.
They started off well, finishing joint ninth among the 15 pairings in the fencing with 13 victories from their 28 bouts worth 194 pentathlon points. The Belarus pair of Katsiaryna Arol and Anastasiya Prokopenko led the field with 19 fencing victories for 242 points.
Murray and Fitton produced by far the quickest swim time of the day to climb to fifth overall. The British duo were the only pair to break the two-minute mark for the 2x100m freestyle relay – and they did it in style with a time of 1:56.67. That added 350 pentathlon points to their total to put them fifth with 544 points, with China’s Qian Chen and Wanxia Liang the new leaders on 564 points.
But the British campaign effectively ended the in riding arena, where Murray struggled to control her horse, leading to the team’s elimination from the ride. It meant Britain took no points from the ride, dropping to 13th overall. China continued to lead on 864 pentathlon points.
Fitton and Murray put in a brave battle in the run/shoot. Their combined event time of 12:14.03 was the seventh fastest of the day, but it wasn’t enough to improve on their 13th place.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said the pair performed well across the day, apart from that ride.
“That’s pentathlon, sometimes this happens,” he said. “I’m sure it will happen to other nations during the course of the championships, but hopefully it was a one-off for us.
“They had a reasonable day other than that. They looked good after the swim and they both shot well and had a very good combined event.”
China comfortably took gold, from Belarus and Italy.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) the British men’s duo of Jamie Cooke and Tom Toolis will contest the men’s relay.
Women’s relay results
Gold: Qian Chen & Wanxia Liang (CHN) – 1454 points
Silver: Katsiaryna Arol and Anastasiya Prokopenko (BLR) – 1441 points
Bronze: Lavinia Bonessio & Camilla Lontano (ITA) - 1424 points
13th: Alice Fitton & Samantha Murray (GBR) – 1110 points
Pentathlon GB team for 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)
Joe Choong – 23.05.95, Orpington - Bath
Jamie Cooke - 03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Sam Curry - 03.09.93, Salfords, Surrey - Bath
Joe Evans - 05.09.93, Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
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
Jamie Cooke - 03.03.91, Cheltenham – Bath
Tom Toolis – 23.12.92, Hornchurch, North East London - Bath
Mixed relay (tbc)
Joe Evans - 05.09.93, Whitchurch, Shropshire – Bath
Kate French – 11.02.91, from: Meopham, Gravesend – lives: Bath
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