Britain’s Sam Weale stepped up his challenge for a place at the Beijing 2008 Olympics with one of his best Modern Pentathlon World Cup performances yet.
 
Weale produced a terrific run to finish 11th overall in the first round of the 2008 World Cup series in Cairo today (Saturday).
 
It provided him with 37 additional Olympic ranking points – pushing him up the overall rankings. Seven Olympic places will ultimately be available through the world ranking list. A British male modern pentathlete hasn’t competed at the Olympic Games since 1996.
 
Weale, aged 26 and originally from Yeovil in Somerset, but now training at the GB modern pentathlon high performance centre at the University of Bath, struggled through injury last year.
 
He produced an outstanding performance to climb from 18th to 11th overall against a world-class field in the final discipline, the 3k run.

“He gained seven places in the run and that was a very good performance. It was a very exciting finish to the day,” said Jan Bartu, GB’s performance director. “It’s also a fantastic start to Sam’s Olympic campaign this year.

“There are still four World Cups to go this year, including the competition in Millfield in March, and today’s result will have a very strong effect on Sam’s confidence.” 

Weale’s 11th place today followed Katy Livingston’s impressive gold medal winning performance in yesterday’s women’s final – the first World Cup gold of her career. 

Men’s final results from the Cairo World Cup

Gold: Andrejus Zadneproviskis (LTU) 5620 points

Silver: Andrew Moiseev (RUS) 5524

Bronze: Bartosz (POL) 5496 points11th:

Sam Weale (GBR) 5344 points

Posted: Saturday 23rd February 2008