Tough day in Budapest Indoor final for Pentathlon GB juniors

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• Charlie Follett finishes 27^th with Georgia Hannam 28^th and Kerenza Bryson 31^st in Budapest Indoor Competition final
• Pentathlon GB juniors all have their struggles during day against a strong international field
• Competition provides all three with important learning experiences to take into 2018 season

Charlie Follett finished 27^th with Georgia Hannam 28^th and Kerenza Bryson 31^st in the Budapest Indoor Competition final today. It was a tough day for the three Pentathlon GB junior athletes, but a day from which they will all take important learning experiences and a successful competition having qualified for the final 36 on Thursday in a strong field for the opening international of the season.

Story of the Day

It was an impressive start to the final for the three girls as the British trio all improved on their swim times from Thursday’s qualification. Morecambe’s Hannam led the Brits in a time of 2:14.72 with Bristol’s Follett recording a 2:20.18 and Plymouth’s Bryson stopping the clock in 2:22.15.

In the fencing hall, it was the two 19-year-olds who performed best, both Hannam and Bryson recoding 17 victories and 18 defeats from their 35 bouts. 20-year-old Follett, who produced a superb fencing display on Thursday, struggled a bit today, winning 13 hits. It meant that Hannam, making her first international appearance since last year’s Budapest Indoor Competition, was the best placed of the British trio in 12^th after the opening two disciplines with Bryson in 21^st and Follett 30^th.

University of Bath student Follett (pictured above) who was moved onto Pentathlon GB’s Podium Potential Programme at the end of last year and lists riding as her best discipline then showed her prowess with a perfect clear round giving her the maximum 300 points. Fellow National Training Centre based athlete Hannam had a tougher time, scoring 237 points with Plymouth’s University’s Bryson collecting 210 on their allocated horses. That saw Follett move up to 22^nd in the overall standings with Hannam slipping to 28^th and Bryson 32^nd ahead of the concluding laser run.

In the final discipline of the final, fatigue seemed to catch up with the British youngsters as all three recorded much slower time than in Thursday’s qualifying. It meant that Follett finished the competition in 27^th with Hannam 28^th and Bryson 31^st. However, against a strong international field, there were still plenty of positives to take from the week and important experience gained for all three Pentathlon GB athletes.

Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB