GB’s Kate French finished in 11th place in Rome today after being the only women to qualify for the World Cup 3 final.
French had a fantastic start to the day when she came 4th in the fencing salle, scoring 22 victories and 13 defeats and securing herself 232 modern pentathlon points. The 25-year-old was unable to extend her lead in the bonus round however, after failing to put a halt to Yane Marques’ string of victories.
French came in at 2:17.95 in the swimming pool, a second down on her qualification swim time, to bring her total haul to 519 points. The Gravesend native managed to add an extra 258 points to her tally on horse Cassius which took her from 7th to 10th place ahead of the combined event.
With a handicap of 57 seconds behind group leader Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania, French crossed the line in 11th place with Asadauskaite taking the gold. Lena Shoneborn of Germany took silver, while Anastasiya Prokopenko of Belarus rounded out the top three.
Great Britain’s Performance Director Jan Bartu said: “Kate had a well-balanced day and her fencing result was really important in giving her a good start. She had a refusal at fence four in the ride that maybe shouldn’t have happened and that really set back her overall campaign.
“Kate started to look tired after the fence but this is a decent standard for her to be at in her preparation for the Rio Olympics. Her level of fatigue was palpable but she is happy with her 11th place finish overall.”
GB’s men are set to compete in their final tomorrow where Sam Curry, Jamie Cooke and Joe Choong will all be looking for their first World Cup medals of the season.
About the Modern Pentathlon:
- Modern pentathlon sees athletes compete in five disciplines – fencing, swimming, riding and a combined run and shoot all in one day.
- Britain’s modern pentathletes have been successful at the highest level, winning medals at the last four Olympic Games. Steph Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze respectively at Sydney 2000, Georgina Harland won bronze at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Heather Fell won silver at the Beijing 2008 Games and Samantha Murray won silver at London 2012.
- Three modern pentathletes have already reached qualification standard for Rio 2016: Samantha Murray, Kate French and Joe Choong.
Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB
