University of Bath trio win team gold for GB
Three University of Bath students have struck gold for Great Britain at modern pentathlon’s European Junior Championships in Portugal.
Katy Burke, Freyja Prentice and Samantha Murray won the team gold at the championships in Golega yesterday (Thursday). Burke meanwhile also won the individual silver medal, which she achieved just days before her 21st birthday on Tuesday (1 June).
Burke has just completed a degree in Sports Performance at the University of Bath, while Prentice, who finished just outside the medals in fourth in the individual competition, is studying for a Biology degree.
Murray, who came 15th, is studying French and Politics at the University of Bath, while Lydia Rosling, who came 22nd in the individual competition, but whose score did not count towards the team competition, is studying Sports Performance at the University of Bath.
The quartet combine their studies with training at Pentathlon GB’s high performance centre at the University.
“It was a very good day for the team,” said Istvan Nemeth, Britain’s women’s head coach.
Burke said: “It’s a not a bad early birthday present. It’s my best result yet, I can’t quite believe it. I hoped for a medal, but with pentathlon you never really know.
“It was so good for the whole team to win the team gold as well,” she added. “I started with a strong fence today, my swim was pretty average but my shooting was really good.”
Burke was fourth going into the final disciplines of the pentathlon – the combined run/shoot – but climbed into a medal position with a strong performance. Prentice also climbed from sixth to fourth, with Murray going into the run/shoot in 10th and Rosling 24th.
Burke got her day off to a good start winning 21 of her 35 fencing bouts and followed that up with 2:11.94 in the pool, the sixth best time.
Murray clocked the second fastest time in the pool today – 2:09.62, while Prentice won 22 of her 35 fencing contests – the joint fifth best performance
GB beat Hungary and France into second and third place in the team event. Individual gold went to Russia’s Ekaterina Khuraskina, with Anais Eudes of France taking bronze.
The championships continue with a mixed relay tomorrow (Friday), a men’s relay on Saturday and a women’s relay on Sunday.
For further information, please contact Steve Ballinger in the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 07765 071683 or visit the Pentathlon GB website
Posted: Friday 28 May 2010
