Britain’s Sam Weale produced a fine all-round performance to win the Bath International pentathlon today (Friday).

Weale, who finished 10th for Great Britain at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, went into the final element of today’s pentathlon – the new combined run/shoot - in second place.

But he overhauled Czech pentathlete Ondrej Polivka on the second of three 1km runs and came into the shooting range for the final time eight seconds ahead of Polivka.

The Czech pentathlete, who won silver at last year’s World Cup Final, reduced the deficit to two seconds in the shooting range. But Weale (pictured) produced a strong final 1km run to cross the finish line 20 seconds ahead of Polivka with a pentathlon score of 6044 points.

“I’m delighted to have won,” said Weale afterwards. “It’s the first time I’ve been on the podium since the Millfield World Cup a year ago.  It’s also a good start to the year for me.

“I had a good start today in the fencing. That’s particularly important now it’s the first discipline. Then I had a solid swim and ride.”

Weale’s time of 11:29.95 for the combined event was the fastest in the field – he missed just one shot in his first of three groups of shooting and two in the final batch.

Team-mate and fellow Beijing Olympian Nick Woodbridge was challenging for a podium finish going into the run/shoot, but dropped down the field from fourth to eighth in the combined event with a time of 12:39.38.

Germany’s Sascha Vetter came third and Robert Nemeth (HUN), bronze medallist at the 2007 World Championships, finished the day in 13th.

Weale and Woodbridge both made bright starts to the day at the Bath International, which took place at the University of Bath Sports Training Village.

Weale fenced well, winning 22 of his 31 contests for joint third behind the early pace-setters Vetter and Polivka, who were joint leaders with 23 victories on the fencing piste.

Woodbridge won 18 bouts for joint ninth place after the first discipline, while team-mates Daniel Worrall and Jamie Cooke were joint 11th with 16 wins.

Polivka opened up a lead at the head of the field in the swimming. His time of 2:06.38 was seventh fastest, making him the clear leader on 2312 points after two disciplines.

Weale was a fraction of a second slower then Polivka – his 2:06.94 was eighth quickest, promoting him to second place in the rankings on 2280 points.

France’s Bruno Merle climbed to third with Woodbridge just behind him in fourth overall with the fourth fastest time for the 200m freestyle of 2:00.38 to take his total to 2244. Cooke swam 1:59.93 to climb to sixth.

Weale and Woodbridge kept up the pressure in the ride. Weale dropped just 40 points to take his total to 3440, but Polivka did even better, taking his total to 3492 points. That gave him a 52-point or 13 second lead over the Brit going into the combined run/shoot.

Vetter climbed back to third on 3424, while Woodbridge also had a good round, dropping just 20 points to take his tally to 3424.

Only two athletes had clear rounds in the allowed time – Portugal’s Andre Pereira and Britain’s James Myatt.

Bath International men’s results
Gold: Sam Weale (GBR) 6044 pts
Silver:  Ondrej Polivka (CZE) 5964 pts
Bronze: Sascha Vetter (GER) 5912
8th: Nick Woodbridge (GBR)  5748
11th: Gareth Evans (GBR) 5724
12th: Daniel Worrall (GBR)  5704
17th: David Atkinson (GBR)  5580
20th: Nick Zissler (GBR)  5388
21st Jack McRoberts (GBR) 5380
22nd: Russell North (GBR) 5360
23rd: Alex Surplice (GBR) 5336
24th: Samuel Sanderson (GBR) 5276
25th: Luke Lawrence (GBR) 5260
26th: James Myatt (GBR) 5256
28th: Lee Ormorod (GBR) 5144
29th: Simon Taylor (GBR) 4948
30th: Robert Flack (GBR) 4828
32nd: Jamie Cooke (GBR) 4508

Photos by Phil Searle, DigitalScape

Posted: Friday 3rd April 2009