University of Bath students past and present on Pentathlon GB World Class Performance Programme as Paris 2024 qualification begins
Eight University of Bath graduates, including both reigning Olympic Champions, and four current students have been named on Pentathlon GB’s World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) for 2023.
It is a massive year for the pentathletes including the first qualification opportunities for Paris 2024, one of which is taking place at their home training venue when the University hosts the 2023 UIPM World Championships in August.
All six athletes on the Podium programme combined study and training at the University of Bath, with Olympic gold-medallists Joe Choong and Kate French (pictured) being joined by fellow Tokyo 2020 athlete Jo Muir. Charlie Follett and Jess Varley also step up after winning European Championships gold and World Cup Final silver respectively in 2022, while Olivia Green – who graduated during the summer – also moves up a funding level after a host of top-10 finishes last season.
Receiving Podium Potential funding this year are students Alex Bousfield (Politics and International Relations), Charlie Brown (Sports Management & Coaching), Ross Charlton (Sports Performance) and Emma Whitaker (Sports Performance), who was named by global governing body UIPM as Best Junior Female Pentathlete of 2022 after a breakthrough season where she won bronze on her World Cup debut.
Joining them are Kerenza Bryson, Henry Choong and Bath alumni Miles Pillage and Sam Curry, who returns to the squad after a year of military training at Sandhurst with the British Army.
Josh Hood and Toby Price have both stepped away from full-time training with Pentathlon GB to focus on their degrees in Sports Performance and Mechanical Engineering respectively. Long-term WCPP athletes Francesca Summers and Tom Toolis have also confirmed their retirement from modern pentathlon, the latter now putting his Sport and Exercise Science degree to use as a Performance Physiologist at a clinic in London.
The current squad will enjoy their first competitive outing of 2023 this weekend (14-15 January) when Pentathlon GB stages its second invitational ranking event of the winter at the University’s Sports Training Village.
Click here to find out more about combining study and modern pentathlon at the University of Bath.
