Pentathlon GB’s Kate French got her 2017 season off to a fantastic start with a silver medal at the first World Cup of the year in Los Angeles overnight.
French was well placed throughout the day before climbing from 7th to 2nd in the laser-run to claim the second World Cup medal of her career, a result that sees her move into the top 10 of the official World Rankings.
Pentathlon GB’s three other Women’s finalists – Jess Varley, Samantha Murray and Francesca Summers – finished 18th, 22nd and 36th respectively in California on an exciting day of action at the opening World Cup of the year.
French was naturally delighted with her performance, commenting: “I’m really happy to start my season with a medal! I was particularly pleased with my fencing which put me in a good position to challenge and although I was a little disappointed with my ride I managed to shoot well and move up the field in the laser run.
“The last lap – when there were three of us going for two medals – was really exciting and I’m so happy that I managed to get the silver medal.”
The new World number 9 concluded “World Cups are always hard events with strong fields and today was no different with Lena [Schoneborn, World number 1], Sarolta [Kovacs, 2016 World Champion] and many other top athletes competing, so to finish on the podium and get my best ever World Cup result is a great feeling.”
Summary of the Day
The Women’s final started in the pool where all four British athletes improved on their qualifying times to get their days off to a good start. London 2012 silver medallist Murray showed her renowned prowess in the swim with a time of 2:13.57, five seconds ahead of French’s 2:18.65. 21 year-old Summers recorded a time of 2:24.43 with Varley a second further back in a time of 2:25.46.
The fencing ranking round, where each finalist faces everyone else, was where French moved into medal contention as a strong second half saw her finish the discipline standings in 5th with 21 victories and just 12 defeats from her 35 bouts. Dorking’s Summers was the next best placed Brit with 14 victories and 19 defeats, 1 victory ahead of Clitheroe’s Murray. On her World Cup debut, Fotheringhay’s Varley secured 11 victories and 24 defeats.
In the fencing bonus round, 21 year-old Varley secured one victory to gain an extra point before Murray went on a 4 bout winning streak to secure 4 extra points. Former North Kent MPC duo Summers and French failed to pick up any extra points but the day’s drama was only just beginning with Summers awarded a black card. Concerns over a recurrence of her knee injury sustained last year meant the youngster fenced passively in the bonus round with the officials deciding this was worthy of a black card; resulting in disqualification from the competition.
It meant 25 year-old French headed the British charge in 5th after two disciplines with Murray 20th and Varley 32nd.
University of Bath student Varley was the first Brit to ride, producing an assured display to pick up 293 points on her allocated horse Lacey, a horse that had provided difficulties for her two riders in the Men’s final. A refusal for Murray led to time penalties and meant the 27 year-old secured 258 points before more confusion during French’s round. The former Pony Club athlete knocked down 2 poles but was also given 16 time faults. An appeal was lodged by the Pentathlon GB team and with video footage reviewed, French was awarded an additional 15 points having only gone 1 second over the allocated time.
It meant she began the concluding laser-run in 7th with Murray 22nd and Varles 23rd. Gravesend’s French picked up positions throughout the 3200m course, exiting the range for the fourth and final time alongside Japan’s Natsumi Tomonaga and Russia’s Ekaterina Khuraskina in a battle for 2nd position. Tomonaga, leader at the start of the laser-run, was dropped with around 300m remaining of the final lap before French pulled away from Khuraskina in the final 50m to secure silver behind Germany’s Lena Schoneborn thanks to the second quickest laser-run time of the day.
Varley also finished strongly with some impressive shooting and excellent running lifting her up to 18th place at the finish whilst Murray maintained the 22nd position she held at the beginning of the laser-run.
Jan Bartu’s Thoughts
Pentathlon GB’s Performance Director Jan Bartu was naturally delighted with French’s performance, explaining “I’m very happy with the outcome at the end of a crazy day. It’s an extremely well deserved medal for Kate and I hope this serves as encouragement to our entire pathway programme as we start the route to Tokyo.”
Tonight (Sunday 26th February) sees the Mixed Relay taking place in Los Angeles with Myles Pillage and Jess Varley competing for Pentathlon GB. Both athletes are making their World Cup debuts and with Varley competing in the individual women’s final today, Jan commented “Jess had a good day for somebody in their first World Cup final. She struggled in the second half of the fencing but bounced back really well and finished the competition strongly. It’s a very good start to her World Cup career.”
Meanwhile in the men’s competition Pentathlon GB’s Jamie Cooke, Sam Curry and Tom Toolis all began their World Cup seasons in fine style with 9th, 16th and 28th placed finishes respectively in Los Angeles overnight.
Jamie Cooke (Photo: Pentathlon GB)
An impressive start in the pool saw all 3 Brits improve on their qualifying times with 25 year-old Cooke being just one of two athletes to break the 2 minute barrier. 24 year-old Toolis finished the discipline in 18th with a 2:07.14 and 23 year-old Curry was just behind in 2:08.86 at the Fairplex venue.
In the fencing ranking round, the Pentathlon GB trio all got off to a slow start with each athlete sitting on 6 victories and 9 defeats after 7 of the 17 rounds. However, each improved as the discipline continued with Salfords’ Curry eventually finishing as the top Brit with 18 victories and 16 defeats. Cheltenham’s Cooke and Romford’s Toolis recorded 16 victories and 18 defeats meaning all three athletes were well placed after the morning’s action.
In the fencing bonus round, Poland’s Jaroslaw Swiderski beat Cooke before Toolis got British revenge to pick up an extra point for his victory over the Pole. Curry also picked up a bonus point with a victory over France’s Romani Gauthier meaning Cooke sat in 13th, with Curry 17th and Toolis 20th after the opening 2 disciplines.
In the ride, all 3 Brits suffered faults with Curry faring the best of the trio after collecting 286 points on his allocated horse Carmani. Cooke scored 283 points with Toolis picking up 282 for their rounds meaning it did little to change the overall standings with most of the field closely matched. As a result, Cooke was still the top Brit in 14th ahead of the laser-run. Curry, who is currently studying for a Masters degree at Kings College London began the final discipline in 17th with a 58 second handicap with Toolis 2 places and 13 seconds further back.
A great laser-run performance from World number 2 Cooke saw him move up into the top 10 as he crossed the line 9th, whilst Curry also moved up in a place with some strong running and accurate shooting. Toolis finished the day in 28th meaning the top 3 athletes on the current British Men’s ranking list all recorded top 30 positions in their opening World Cup of the season.
Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB
