Reigning global champions among 13-strong British team for home Modern Pentathlon European Championships in Bath
World Cup Final Champion Joe Choong, World Champion Jamie Cooke and continental silver-medallist Kate French have today been named in a 13-strong British team that will compete on home soil at next week’s Modern Pentathlon European Championships at the University of Bath (click here for ticket information).
Graduates Sam Curry, Jo Muir, Tom Toolis and Jess Varley will also compete in the individual events, along with 2015 World Junior Champion Francesca Summers, where eight Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying places will be up for grabs in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
In-form Choong, who studied Mathematics at the University, has already secured an Olympic qualification spot after his stunning success at last month’s World Cup Final in Tokyo and his Pentathlon GB colleagues will be keen to match that achievement at a championships that will feature more than 150 athletes from 25 different countries.
Competition is sure to be fierce and not just with their continental rivals as eight of the British team have all recorded their best-ever finish at World Cup level during 2019.
As well as the individual events, whose finals will be on Saturday August 10th (men) and Sunday 11th (women), there will also be relay competitions on Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th that will give younger members of the Pentathlon GB squad chance to gain more top-level experience and compete at a major event on British soil for the first time.
The women’s relay team of Zoe Davison and Psychology student Charlie Follett, who is supported by a Santander Sports Scholarship, will be looking to match the form they showed when they won the Junior European title last summer.
Myles Pillage and Oliver Murray – who study Biochemistry and Electronic & Electrical Engineering respectively – will compete in the men’s relay, fresh off the back of relay medals at both the 2019 Junior European and Junior World Championships. Team Bath Dual Career athlete Murray, the youngest member of the British team, will be making his major senior debut at the National Lottery-backed event.
The first day of the Championships sees the mixed relay taking place where Pillage will be joined by Kerenza Bryson, who produced a phenomenal display to claim individual silver, team bronze and women’s relay silver at the Junior World Championships earlier this month.
Tickets for the Modern Pentathlon European Championships, dubbed “Gladiators Return”, are on sale now – click here for more information.
