Joe Choong finished 5th for the second consecutive day at World Cup 3 as he and WC debutant Olivia Green produced a fine comeback in the mixed relay. The British duo had been languishing as low as 15th after the swim and fence but a superb ending to the day saw them surge through the field to take their place on the wider podium and continue Pentathlon GB’s fantastic World Cup season.
For Choong, it was the latest podium of a brilliant 2019 season which has seen him claim bronze at the Budapest Indoor Competition and silver and World Cup 2 before these pair of 5th places in Szekesfehervar. Meanwhile, World Cup debutant Green continued a fine start to her international modern pentathlon career with a second piece of silverware in the last two months after an impressive bronze medal at the Swiss Women International in March.
Story of the Day
The British team came out of the traps quickly in pool, their time of 1:59.00 the second quickest of the day. In the biggest mixed relay field ever assembled at World Cup level, the fencing discipline proved trickier for the youngsters and they finished with 18 victories and 24 defeats from their 42 bouts in the ranking round. A single victory followed in the bonus round and although the Pentathlon GB duo slipped to 15th after two disciplines, they were still within touch of many of the teams in front of them and ready for an afternoon charge.
That started in the horseriding arena where a controlled round saw Saddleworth’s Green and Orpington’s Choong score 280 points. With weather conditions treacherous in Hungary, the Brits could then sit back and watch as those ahead of them had to face the course. As expected given the conditions, some nations hit trouble, seeing the British pairing move up to 10th heading into the laser run.
With their sights set on those ahead, 19-year-old Green and 23-year-old Choong made up ground throughout the run-shoot, eventually crossing the line in 5th thanks to the second quickest laser run of the day. The performance finished another impressive World Cup for the Pentathlon GB team with the individual competitions seeing Jamie Cooke (4th), Joe Choong (5th), Jess Varley (7th) and Jo Muir (8th) all inside the top 8 in a traditionally hard World Cup setting.
Green will be back in action next weekend when she competes at the Czech Open Championships. The final World Cup of the regular season takes place in Prague at the end of May. The Pentathlon GB team for that event will be announced shortly.
Courtesy of Pentathlon GB
