Gold and silver for GB pentathletes at World Champs
The British team are celebrating a stunning day at the Modern Pentathlon World Championships today (Saturday) with the women wining team gold and Nick Woodbridge taking individual silver in the men’s competition.
The trio of Kate French, Samantha Murray and Mhairi Spence – all University of Bath graduates – started an outstanding day in Chinese Taipei by successfully defending the title won by Murray, Spence and Heather Fell in Rome last year.
And double Olympian Woodbridge, ranked 22 in the world, rounded off the day by winning Britain’s first men’s individual medal at a World Championships for 20 years, following Richard Phelps’ gold in 1993. The last British men’s World Championships medal of any kind was a team silver the following year.
There were also strong performances by two younger athletes, with Kate French 10th in the women’s individual competition and Jamie Cooke fifth in the men’s. The British team train at the Pentathlon GB high performance centre at the University of Bath.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but it feels good,” said Woodbridge, whose season has been hampered by injury – his previous best performance of the year had been a 16th place at the Rio World Cup in March.
“I’ve had a difficult year so it’s nice to finish on a high,” he added. “I’ve had a couple of injuries that have prevented me getting the results I wanted and I think I needed this today. Winning silver at the World Championships is by far my best result.”
“I feel like I’ve worked hard for this for so many years, but I’ve just missed out for different reasons in the past,” said Woodbridge.
Woodbridge’s previous best career performances include gold at the 2004 World Youth A Championships and bronze at the 2011 World Cup Final in London.
In the individual women’s competition, French finsihed as the highest placed Brit in 10th, with Samantha Murray 14th and Freyja Prentice 15th and Mhairi Spence 17th.
For further details see the Pentathlon GB webiste at www.pentathlongb.org
