GB’s women’s team all through to Pentathlon World Cup 2 final

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Kate French, Samantha Murray, Freyja Prentice and Francesca Summers (pictured above) are all through to the final of the second Word Cup of the season after qualifying in yesterday’s semi-final in Rio.

Murray, who was competing at her first international competition of the season, qualified automatically after finishing her qualification group in 8^th place. A strong fence, in which she won 14 of her bouts, left her in 9^th place ahead of the swim where she clocked a time of 2:13.69. Her combined scores put her in 4^th place ahead of the combined event, 46 seconds behind group leader Janine Kohlmann of Germany. The 26-year-old ran the 9^th quickest race at 13:35.06, doing just enough to secure herself an automatic spot in Saturday’s final.

French had an extremely consistent qualification competition after finishing 5^th in the swim with a time of 2:15.88 and 5^th in the fence with total of 16 victories. The 25-year was well placed going into the combined evet, just 14 seconds behind the group’s leader Ieva Serapenaite of Lithuania. A solid run-shoot saw her finish the group in 7th place and qualify for the women’s final.

Summers started her qualification campaign in the swimming pool, where she clocked a time of 2:20.72 before scoring a fantastic 18 victories in the fence. The current Junior World Champion went into the final event of the day with 528 points, just one second ahead of her compatriot French. She dropped just outside of automatic qualification after finishing in 9^th place in her group; however she secured her place in the final after finishing the semi-final in 29^th place.

Prentice, who has just returned from a stint on the side-lines after dislocating her shoulder, started her day by swimming a time of 2:24.83 before winning 15 of her fencing bouts. She went into the combined event in 13^th place, 71 seconds behind current World Champion Lena Schoneborn who led the table. The 25-year-old maintained her position with a good run-shoot but she had a nervy wait to find out whether she had made it into the women’s final on Saturday.

The quartet will be back in action today (Friday) when they compete in the fencing ranking round of the women’s final. The GB trio will then continue their final on Saturday with the swim, fencing bonus round, ride and combined event.

Tomorrow will also see the British men’s team testing out the brand new Olympic facilities in Deodoro, with Sam Curry, Jamie Cooke, Joe Choong and Tom Toolis all competing for a spot in Sunday’s final.

 GB Team for World Cup 2

Women’s Team

Kate French, 25, from Gavesend, Kent

Samantha Murray, 26, from Clitheroe, Lancashire

Freyja Prentice, 25, from Inverurie, Aberdeenshire

Francesca Summers, 20, Dorking, Surrey

Men’s Team

Sam Curry, 22, Salfords, Surrey

Joe Choong, 20, Orpington, Bromley

Jamie Cooke, 25, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Tom Toolis, 23, Hornchurch, Havering

 Competition Schedule

• Thursday 10th: Women’s Qualification
• Friday 11th: Women’s Final (Fencing Ranking Round) and Men’s Qualification
• Saturday 12th: Men’s Final (Fencing Ranking Round) and Women’s Final
• Sunday 13th: Men’s Final

Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB