- Saddleworth’s Olivia Green, Stroud’s Zoe Davison and Warwick’s Georgina Mitchell claim team bronze at Under 19 European Cup
- Numerous impressive individual performances from young Pentathlon GB team in Spain
- Green and Hampshire’s George Budden finish as top GB pair in 4th in Mixed Relay
Olivia Green, Zoe Davison and Georgina Mitchell secured team bronze at the Under 19 European Cup in Spain on Saturday as Pentathlon GB’s Under 19 athletes competed in their first overseas competition of 2017 in Sant Boi. A strong field in Spain featured athletes from 11 different nations, providing a stern test and fantastic learning experience for an extremely young Pentathlon GB team.
On Satuday the girls’ competition started in the pool where all 6 British athletes – Davison, Green, Mitchell, Cholesbury’s Alex Bousfield, Weymouth’s Zoe Gowers and Bolton le Sands’ Emma Whitaker – finished inside the top 9 positions.
In the fencing salle, it was Plymouth College’s Mitchell who led the British charge, topping the discipline standings with 21 victories and just 11 defeats. Wycliffe College’s Davison (20V 12D), Dacorum MPC’s Bousfield (19V 13D) and Leweston Pentathlon Academy’s Gowers (17V 15D) also produced positive fences to move up the overall standings. Green, who claimed victory at the GB Youth International last month, secured a level fence of 16 victories whilst Whitaker, who enjoyed success at the Portuguese Under 17 National Championships at the beginning of April, picked up 15 victories and 17 defeats.
It meant all six Brits were well placed after two disciplines with Mitchell leading from Davison and Bousfield, Gowers and Green all inside the top 10 too. Whitaker, the second youngest member of the team, was 19th but the field was extremely closely packed though with just 53 seconds covering the top 21 athletes.
A thrilling laser-run ensued with Green recording the 8th quickest time of the discipline to move up to 7th in the overall standings and finish as the top British athlete. Davison crossed the line 9th with Mitchell 14th and their performances meant the trio claimed the bronze medal in the team event. 15 year-olds Bousfield and Whitaker finished 19th and 21st respectively with Gowers 22nd as all six Brits gained valuable international experience.
The boys’ event began with their fencing discipline where Ampfield’s George Budden led the British challenge with 22 victories and 13 defeats. Nottinghamshire’s Kieran Harby secured 17 victories and 18 defeats with Ashford School Modern Pentathlon Club’s James Wilton, Leweston Pentathlon Academy’s George Case and Yorkshire Pentathlon Club’s Josh Hood all finishing on 13 victories and 22 defeats. The final member of the team, Yorkshire’s Toby Price, finished 6 points further back with 12 victories.
Strong swims by Budden and Harby saw them maintain similar positions in the overall standings with Hampshire’s Budden 5th and Yorkshire Pentathlon Club’s Harby 17th after two disciplines. A good time of 2:07.57 saw Wilton move up to 24th with Case 28th, Price 29th and Hood 34th ahead of the laser-run.
As with the girls’ event, the laser-run dramatically shook up the order, but a strong final discipline from Budden saw him maintain a top 10 position in 7th to finish as the top Brit. There was a close battle between the other 5 British athletes, Price eventually coming out on top to finished 26th with Wilton 27th, Hood 28th, Harby 29th and Case 30th in a field containing many older and more experienced athletes.
Sunday saw the Mixed relay taking place with 5 all British teams – Green & Budden, Davison & Price, Mitchell & Wilton, Whitaker & Hood and Bousfield & Case – competing as well as Harby teaming up with Mexico’s Melissa Mireles to ensure all youngsters attending the event gained maximum competition experience. Mitchell and Wilton’s 2:00.93 was the quickest British time and 3rd fastest overall in the swim but all 16 teams were narrowly separated after the opening discipline.
The Mixed Relay was run as a modern triathlon meaning it was straight into the laser-run. Again, differences between the teams were marginal but it was Green and Budden who finished as the top British team in 4th, narrowly missing out a podium position. Harby and Mireles finished a place further back with Davison and Price recording the 6th quickest time in both disciplines to finish 6th overall.
Mitchell and Wilton finished 8th with the two Under 17 aged teams of Bousfield & Case and Whitaker & Hood 13th respectively.
Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB
