Superb Sofia showing sees Kate French strike gold at Modern Pentathlon World Cup
Pentathlon GB athlete Kate French has won the second Modern Pentathlon World Cup gold medal of her career after a stellar performance in Sofia, Bulgaria on Friday.
The Rio 2016 Olympian and University of Bath Sports Performance graduate was making only her second international appearance of the season after taking an extended break from training following last year’s World Championships.
She was in outstanding form throughout the women’s individual final, clocking 2:22.16 in the swimming pool before winning 26 of her 35 bouts in the fencing hall – she also came out on top in the fencing bonus round to move up to second in the overall standings.
French then picked up just a handful of time faults to score 294 points in the ride, meaning she remained in second place going into the run-shoot, where she made up the ten-second deficit behind Ireland’s Natalya Coyle before going on to take an excellent overall victory.
GOLD 🥇 goes to KATE FRENCH 🇬🇧 in the Women’s Final at the UIPM #PentathlonWorldCup, Sofia, Bulgaria 🇧🇬 – congratulations #5uperathlete 💐🎉 pic.twitter.com/eS9SnACX81
— UIPM – World Pentathlon (@WorldPentathlon) May 25, 2018
It was the second time that French had stood on top of the podium at a World Cup, following her maiden success in Cairo, Egypt, in March 2017.
Samantha Murray also produced a strong performance in the run-shoot to climb from 17th to 11th, while Jess Varley and Francesca Summers placed 22nd and 33rd respectively.
Click here for more information about the modern pentathlon programme at the University of Bath.
