Kerenza Bryson and Olivia Green continued Pentathlon GB’s fantastic start to the 2019 Junior European Championships by claiming a fine silver in the women’s relay. There was little to choose between the leading nations throughout the day in Poland but a strong finish saw the Brits take the second step on the podium, following on from Georgia Hannam and Oliver Murray’s bronze in the mixed relay yesterday.
It was a third medal of 2019 for Green and second for Bryson as they maintained a brilliant medal-filled season to date for Pentathlon GB athletes at both Junior and Senior level.
Story of the Day
The women’s relay began in the pool where the Pentathlon GB duo clocked a time of 2:11.65 to get their day off to a solid start. A level fence of 18 victories and 18 defeats followed which meant Plymouth’s Bryson and Saddleworth’s Green sat 6th in the overall standings.
From there on though, the Brits would be upwardly mobile, beginning with a wonderful string of 5 victories in the fencing bonus round which helped them move up to 5th. The riding discipline can often cause difficulties in relays and that proved to be the case in Poland. Although Bryson and Green rolled three poles to score 279, that saw them make ground on most of their rivals, moving up to third in the overall standings.
However, things were extremely tight with just 23 seconds separating the top 8 teams at the start of the laser run. As expected with such narrow gaps, an enthralling run-shoot ensued with the podium places changing throughout the 3200m course. The British duo kept their composure though with some sharp shooting from Bryson and strong running from Green seeing them cross the line in second to claim silver behind the Czech Republic.
Tomorrow sees the men’s relay taking place in Poland with Myles Pillage and Bradley Sutton in action for Pentathlon GB. Bryson and Green will both return on Thursday for women’s individual qualifying.
Courtesy of Pentathlon GB
