After last weekend’s opening National Ranking Competitions kicked off the season, Great Britain’s modern pentathletes are set for a busy year in 2018. A packed international calendar will feature all of the traditional major championships as well as qualifying for October’s Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires whilst on home soil, the 2018 British Championships in June will attract all of the biggest names in the sport.
The international season gets underway in Hungary later this month at the annual Budapest Indoor Competition before the first World Cup of the year in Cairo from 28th February-4th March. Further World Cups follow in Los Angeles (27th-31st March), Kecskemet (3rd-7th May) and Sofia (23rd-27th May) before the World Cup Final in Astana, Kazakhstan from 22nd-24th June.
The first major championship of 2018 will be the Under 19 World Championships in Portugal which get underway on 7th April with the U19&U17 European Championships (Poland) and Junior European Championships (Spain) both taking place in June.
A busy period follows with the Senior European Championships taking place in Hungary in mid-July before the Czech Republic hosts the Junior World Championships at the beginning of August.
The biggest event this year, the 2018 Senior World Championships, follows in September with the altitude in Mexico City set to be a big factor in the event.
On home soil, the revamped British Open Modern Pentathlon Championships will take place in Bath on 9th and 10th June will see Great Britain’s best senior and junior pentathletes competing in a high-quality competition. All four of Team GB’s 2016 Olympic modern pentathletes – Kate French, Samantha Murray, Joe Choong and Jamie Cooke – are set to compete as they look to capture the title of British Champion with Murray and Cooke the defending champions after enjoying success in 2017.
All Senior and Junior internationals will be modern pentathlons (swim, fence, ride, combined laser-run) with Under 19 internationals run in the modern tetrathlon format (swim, fence, laser-run) and Under 17 events modern triathlons (swim, combined laser-run).
The busy schedule promises to provide a fantastic year of modern pentathlon across all age levels as Great Britain’s best athletes battle with their rivals from across the world.
Full 2018 Major International List
World Cup 1 – Cairo – 28th February – 4th March
World Cup 2 – Los Angeles – 27th-31st March
Under 19 World Championships – Caldas da Rainha, Portugal – 7th-15th April
World Cup 3 – Kecskemet, Hungary – 3rd-7th May
World Cup 4 – Sofia, Bulgaria – 23rd-27th May
British Open Modern Pentathlon Championships – Bath – 9th-10th June
Under 19 and Under 17 European Championships – Drzonkow, Poland– 11th-18th June
Junior European Championships – El Prat de Llobregat, Spain – 17th-23rd June
World Cup Final – Astana, Kazakhstan – 22nd-24th June
Senior European Championships – Szekesfehervar, Hungary – 17th-23rd July
Junior World Championships – Kladno, Czech Republic – 30th July – 6th August
Senior World Championships – Mexico City – 8th-15th September
Under 24 European Championships – Drzonkow, Poland – 18th-23rd September
Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB