Jamie Cooke showed his true colours again today when he took to the podium to accept his Gold medal after winning the UIPM 2016 World Cup Final.
Cookeâs World Cup season has gone from strength to strength with him starting the series in Brazil in March where he finished 19th. Just one month later he took Gold in KecskemĂ©t in Hungary and then repeated that success in the Florida sunshine yesterday (Saturday 7th May). He becomes the first British man to win a World Cup Final and it was a case of dĂ©jĂ vu as he also found himself on the top step of the podium in Sarasota in February 2015 at World Cup #1.
Cooke finished his fencing ranking round on Thursday in 17th place which he described as âa massive improvement on how I used to fenceâ. He freely admits that heâs used to routinely finding himself towards the bottom of the field after the fencing phase but after changing his training routine recently, has been concentrating more on his fencing technique. This has clearly paid off with a much more balanced result of 18 victories and 17 defeats, his fourth positive fence in four World Cup outings this season.
With the ever-present Florida sun shining down on the pool on Finals day on Saturday, Cooke, as one of the fastest swimmers in the competition, took his place in Lane 4 in the 5th and final heat. He swam a great race with a time of 01:58:76, the 2nd quickest of the day. Although understandably pleased at this result he said âI must remember this isnât just a swimming competition â I need to perform like that in all 5 eventsâ.
He was âdisappointed as I know I can fence betterâ after the Fencing Bonus Round where he was outwitted by the towering presence of the German, Patrick Dogue (who eventually took the silver medal). Reflecting on his fence Cooke said âI now just need to focus on the ride. The ride can change everythingâ. And he wasnât wrong. Sitting in 4th place he produced a cool, calm and collected clear round on the grey gelding, Hannover MCN, a sensitive horse that responded to Cookeâs quiet hands and seat. He also completed the ride phase within the allocated time to pick up the maximum 300 points. This left him 3rd place going into the combined event.
With 852 modern pentathlon points and a handicap of 11 seconds, he started the final discipline in good shape. He didnât waste a second that this opportunity gave him and completed the run in a blistering 11mins 12 seconds. âWith my last green light, I thought, âthis could be in the bagââ Cooke said, âBut it wasnât until those last couple of corners I actually realised that I was going to do thisâ.
Cooke shared the podium with Patrick Dogue (Silver) and Valentin Prades of France (Bronze). The Brit summed up his day in Sarasota by stating âItâs been a perfect dayâ. His coach, Marian Gheorghe when asked to summarise the day simply said âHeâs good, weâre good, the teamâs goodâ.
The womenâs competition was won on Friday by reigning World Champion Lena Schoneborn with Hungary’s Zsofia Foldhazi taking silver and Lithuania’s Ieva Serapinaite bronze. Pentathlon GBâs own Freyja Prentice also earned her right on the podium, coming home in 6th after a stylish clear round in the show jumping and strong combined event.
Report and photos courtesy of Jeanette Kenyon, Pentathlon GB.