Britain’s pentathletes get season underway at national ranking competition

Britain’s modern pentathletes got their season underway at the first of two GB national ranking competitions in Bath this weekend.

The competition gave a host of younger athletes an opportunity to show their mettle alongside some of the more established athletes training at the National Training Centre at the University of Bath.

Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “Competition is the best form of training, so it was a good preparation for the athletes.

London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray competed in the women’s event, along with Kate French and Freyja Prentice. The trio all represented Great Britain at last year’s world championships.

Former world junior champion Jamie Cooke, ranked four in the world, was among the men competing, along with Sam Curry and Tom Toolis, who are ranked 13th and 21st respectively in the world junior rankings.

As it was the first ranking competition of the year, the swim and run/shoot featured longer distances than in standard pentathlon competitions.

Both the men’s and women’s competitions took place over two days with fencing, swimming and the run/shoot at the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre at the University of Bath and riding at the West Wilts Equestrian Centre.

A second National Ranking Competition takes place next month.