Source: Pentathlon GB

Fine top 10 finish for Pentathlon GB’s Charlie Follett at Europeans

  • +1

Charlie Follett produced a fine display to finish 9th after a long day at the Junior European Championships, her first individual top ten result at a major championship.

The 21-year-old was in contention for a strong finish throughout the day in Barcelona and despite losing ground during the horse-riding phase, regrouped to move back inside the top 10 at the competition’s conclusion. Behind her, Zoe Davison and Holly Parker finished 16th and 19th respectively in Catalonia meaning all three Brits finished inside the top 20 on an encouraging day of action for Pentathlon GB athletes.

Story of the Day

The women’s final began in the pool with the 200m swim. It was Stroud’s Davison who led the way for the Brits with a fine display seeing her stop the clock in 2:13.72. Parker, who claimed the Junior British title 10 days ago, began her European campaign with a 2:20.72 with Follett just behind in 2:21.25.

It was the fencing hall which shook the order up dramatically, Follett propelling herself into contention with a fine display which saw her collect 18 victories and 10 defeats. The Bristol born athlete then went on to collect three extra points in the bonus round with another trio of victories. Somerset’s Parker secured 12 victories from her 28 bouts with Davison, still in her first year as a Junior athlete, finishing the discipline with 11 victories to her name in the ranking round and 2 victories in the bonus round.

That left Follett as the highest placed Brit in 4th with Davison 19th and Parker 20th after the opening two disciplines in Barcelona. In the ride, on which all athletes are allocated unknown horses, Parker was the first Brit into the arena, an excellent display seeing her pick up 297 points courtesy of just three time penalties. Davison also performed well, rolling just a single pole for 293 points but it was a tougher round for Follett, 22 penalty points seeing her collect just 278 points in the third discipline.

With numerous scores of over 290, that meant Follett slipped to 12th in the overall standings with Davison moving up to 16th and Parker 18th ahead of the concluding laser run.

However, rather than letting her head drop, University of Bath student Follett reacted well, a fine laser run seeing her move back up to 9th place at the competition’s conclusion. That marked her first top 10 individual finish in a major championship and continued a fine season which has also seen her take bronze at both the Milan Kadlec Memorial in Prague and the Junior British Championships earlier this month. Behind her, Davison maintained her place in 16th with Parker also remaining inside the top 20 as she crossed the line 19th, her own personal best result at a major championships.

Reflecting on the end of her day Follett commented “Having dropped from 4th to 12th after an unfortunate ride, I’m very happy to have run myself back up to 9th and inside the top 10.

“I now look forward to supporting the boys in their final tomorrow before the relays at the end of the week.”

Pentathlon GB’s Myles Pillage and Jamie Harper will both be competing in the men’s final after coming through qualifying yesterday.

Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB