Young British trio to make senior World Championship debuts
Three young British modern pentathletes will make their senior World Championship debuts in China next week.
Twenty one-year-old Katy Burke, Samantha Murray, aged 20, and 19-year-old Jamie Cooke are members of a seven-strong British team competing at the championships in Chengdu.
They are joined by another young Brit, 20-year-old Freyja Prentice, who made her world championship debut in London last year.
The GB team also features a trio of athletes who represented Great Britain at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – Heather Fell, Sam Weale and Nick Woodbridge. All seven train at the Pentathlon GB high performance centre at the Unveristy of Bath.
Just over two weeks ago Burke, Murray and Prentice joined forces to win team gold for Great Britain at the World Junior Championships in Hungary, while Prentice won individual silver and team relay gold with Burke and another exciting young British pentathlete, Kate French.
Cooke just missed out on the medals at the World Junior Championships, finishing fifth in the men’s individual competition.
China has been a happy hunting ground for the fourth member of the British women’s team, Heather Fell, who won silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Weale returns to action following his silver medal at the European Championships in Hungary last month– the first individual medal won by a male British pentathlete at a European championships.
Woodbridge, meanwhile, was the highest placed male Briton at the 2009 World Championships at Crystal Palace, finishing 13th.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “We have a mix of experienced Olympic Games athletes and some new kids that will be on the start line for the first time at this level. All of them have earned their places.
“There will be two generations of athletes in one team and I think that’s very positive for us,” he added. “It will be a really tough competition. We’re looking for a top-eight finish in both genders.”
The championships get underway with on Wednesday 1 September with the men’s qualification competition, with the women’s qualification taking place on Thursday 2 September.
The men’s final is on Friday 3 September with the women’s final on Saturday 4 September. A mixed relay follows on Sunday 5 September with a men’s relay on Monday 6 September and a women’s relay on Tuesday 7 September.
