Freyja Prentice and Kate French through to Modern Pentathlon World Cup final in Rome
Pentathlon GB duo Freyja Prentice and Kate French are safely through to the women’s individual final at World Cup 3 in Rome, Italy.
Prentice – who won a bronze medal at the last World Cup in Cairo, Egypt in March – topped Group B in the qualifying stages on Wednesday with 1,080 points, ranking her ninth overall.
And French – a third-placed finisher at World Cup 1 in Sarasota, US in February – scored 1,076 points to rank eighth in Group B and 16th overall.
Prentice, pictured, made a solid start, winning 19 of her fencing bouts for 236 points. French’s 17 wins earned her 222 points.
They then clocked times of 2:27.10 and 2:22.59 respectively in the 200m swim before finishing strongly in the combined run/shoot.
Prentice’s time of 11:55.61 was the fourth fastest of the day in Group B and worth 585 points, while French was fifth fastest in 11:59.23.
Joanna Muir missed out on a place in Friday’s final after placing 15th in a strong Group A.
She won 11 of her fencing bouts and recorded a good time of 2:16.55 in the pool but was not able to make up the necessary ground in the run/shoot, where she clocked 12:22.26.
World Champion Samantha Murray was due to compete in Rome but Pentathlon GB Performance Director Jan Bartu explained she had been withdrawn to prepare for the next World Cup in Budapest, Hungary.
Pentathlon GB’s men are in qualification action on Thursday, with Nick Woodbridge – making his first World Cup appearance in two years – in Group A.
Joe Evans and Tom Toolis are in Group B, while Joe Choong and Jamie Cooke – a late call-up to the men’s squad – go in Group C.
The Rome World Cup is the latest major competition in a big year for Pentathlon GB, which includes the start of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification period.
A key event on the road to Rio will be the Modern Pentathlon European Championships, taking place at the University of Bath – the home of Pentathlon GB – from August 18-23.
Tickets are now on sale for the event – visit www.pentathlongb.org/euros2015 for more information.
