Summers & Miller finish 6th in Modern Pentathlon Mixed Relay

• Like
• +1

Georgina Summers and Josh Miller produced a fantastic performance to finish 6^th in the Mixed Relay on the final day of the 2016 Modern Pentathlon Junior World Championships in Cairo today.  In a field containing many older and more experienced athletes, including Rio 2016 Olympians, the two 18-year-olds belied their young age as they remained in contention for a strong finish throughout the day.

The event started with the swim where Summers and Miller recorded a time of 2:05.50, the 12^th quickest of the day. The majority of the field were tightly matched with less than 9 seconds covering the top 16 teams meaning the British duo were well placed after one of their less favoured disciplines.

Summers, who trains at North Kent Modern Pentathlon Club, and Miller, who was based at Hartpury College Academy until graduating this summer then both excelled in the fencing salle. The young British duo were placed well throughout and finished the discipline standings in 2^nd on 20 victories and 12 defeats. The Brits then defeated Germany in the fencing bonus round to pick up an extra point meaning they sat 4^th after two disciplines.

An excellent ride from the two 18-year-olds saw them pick up 290 points after knocking down just a single pole alongside 3 time faults. As a result, Dorking’s Summers and Oxted’s Miller moved up a place to third ahead of the final event in the Egyptian capital, the combined run-shoot.

With many quick athletes close behind them, it was always going to be tough to maintain their position, but a strong performance from both athletes saw them cross the line 6^th, a fantastic performance in their debut Junior World Championships.

Sunday was the last day of the Championships, the final major international of the 2016 season. On Monday, Jess Varley and Charlie Follett finished 12^th in the Women’s Relay with Miller teaming up with fellow Hartpury College graduate Harry Sykes to finish 14^th in the Men’s Relay.

In the individual competitions, Varley finished as the top Brit in the women’s event in 23^rd with Summers 27^th and Follett 30^th after all three qualified for the final.

Rio 2016 Olympian Joe Choong finished 18^th on his final international appearance of the season on Saturday.

Choong comfortably qualified for the final 36 on Thursday and was the lone British representative in the final as Youth A (U19) athletes Harry Sykes, Josh Miller and Bradley Sutton narrowly missed out on qualifying on their step up to Junior level.

The final started in the pool where Choong’s time of 2:02.11 was the 4^th quickest of the day and just 1 second between Italian Matteo Cicinelli who was quickest. The field was extremely closely matched in the opening discipline with just 5 seconds (15 points) covering the top 16.

As he did in Brazil, Choong, who is studying for a maths degree at the University of Bath alongside his training, performed impressively throughout the fencing ranking round, eventually finishing the discipline in 5^th with 22 victories and just 11 defeats.

In the fencing bonus round, the Orpington born athlete picked up two extra points courtesy of victories over Kazakh Igor Sozinov and Russian Lev Kolyazov. It meant he sat in 2^nd position after the opening two disciplines in the Egyptian capital.

In the ride, Choong suffered a tough round on his horse Mashaallah, picking up 34 obstacle penalties and 14 time penalties. It meant the 21-year-old started the combined event in 6^th but still in a good position to secure a strong result.

However, a long international season that started at the Spanish Open International in early February and has included the Olympic Games, Senior World Championships, Senior European Championships and 2 World Cups finally caught up with the Brit as he slipped to 18^th by the line.

Fellow Olympians Charles Fernandez of Guatemala and Korea’s Jun Woongtae claimed gold and bronze respectively with Russian Alexander Lifanov securing bronze.

The next time Pentathlon GB athletes will be in action is at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on October 2^nd.

Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB.

 

 

N.B. The attached images show Josh Miller in action at the Youth A European Championships in July. Please photo credit Chris Green should you wish to use.