- Charlie Follett, George Budden, Jamie Harper and Bradley Sutton to all make World Cup debuts
- Plymouth’s Myles Pillage also selected in young men’s team
- Joanna Muir, Jess Varley and Kerenza Bryson complete Pentathlon GB line-up
Four Pentathlon GB athletes are set to make their World Cup debuts in Cairo later this month. The first World Cup of the season provides an opportunity for a selection of younger athletes to get a taste of the senior circuit with some of our more experienced athletes concentrating on events later in the year.
Charlie Follett (Photo: Pentathlon GB)
It means that Hampshire’s George Budden and Bradley Sutton, Gloucestershire’s Jamie Harper and Bristol’s Charlie Follett will all make their World Cup debuts in the Egyptian capital. They will be joined by Myles Pillage (3), Kerenza Bryson (1), Jess Varley (2) and Jo Muir (8) who all also have limited World Cup experience.
Pillage, Budden, Harper and Sutton finished 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th respectively at the opening Pentathlon GB ranking competition of the season, placing them as the top four junior male athletes.
Bryson (5th) and Follett (6th) were the top junior finishes in the women’s competition in Bath last month before qualifying for the final at the Hungarian Indoor Competition on their first international appearance of 2018. They will be joined by Varley and Muir who finished 2nd and 3rd at the opening ranking event and are the only athletes in the team to have competed in multiple individual World Cup competitions with two of Pillage’s three appearances last season seeing him just compete in the Mixed Relay.
Six of the team selected train at Pentathlon GB’s National Training Centre at the University of Bath with Bryson currently based at Plymouth University and Budden, the youngest member of the team, still training at home whilst he studies for his A-levels.
Cairo will be a familiar location for most of the team though with the four members who all have World Cup experience – Muir, Varley, Bryson and Pillage – competing in the Cairo leg of the World Cup Series last year. That event marked Bryson’s own World Cup debut whilst Pillage and Muir teamed up to claim silver in the Mixed Relay.
Sutton and Follett competed on Egyptian soil at the 2016 Junior World Championships but for Harper and Budden it will be their first trip to the desert as well as their first World Cup appearance.
It is the 5th straight year that a World Cup has been held in Cairo and the heat, humidity and sand, as well as its early position in the season’s calendar can often lead to unpredictability. In the last four years, the 8 individual gold medals have been shared between 7 countries, including Great Britain’s Kate French 12 months ago.
Full Schedule
Wednesday 28th January – Women’s qualifying
Thursday 1st March – Men’s qualifying
Friday 2nd March – Women’s final
Saturday 3rd March – Men’s final
Sunday 4th March – Mixed relay
Women’s Team
Jessica Varley, 22, originally from Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire. Currently training at the University of Bath (National Training Centre).
Joanna Muir, 23, originally from Dumfries. Currently training at the University of Bath (National Training Centre).
Kerenza Bryson, 19, originally from Plymouth, Devon. Currently training at Plymouth University.
Charlie Follett, 20, originally from Bristol. Currently training at the University of Bath (National Training Centre).
Men’s Team
Myles Pillage, 20, originally from Plymouth, Devon. Currently training at the University of Bath (National Training Centre).
George Budden, 18, from Ampfield, Hampshire.
Jamie Harper, 20, originally from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Currently training at the University of Bath (National Training Centre).
Bradley Sutton, 19, originally from Basingstoke, Hampshire. Currently training at the University of Bath (National Training Centre).
Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB
