By David Brenchley
Great Britain's world championship campaign ended in tears as they failed to claim a medal in the modern pentathlon team relay.
The British team of Heather Fell and Mhairi Spence, who competed so well in the individual final, fell short after the combined run/shoot event.
The duo had started the day so well but, as with Katy Livingston on Sunday, lost a lot of ground to their rivals in just one event.
An impressive fence, Spence losing just six of her 26 bouts and Fell 12, and the third fastest swim, at 2:07:91 kept them in second place overall at the halfway stage.
After an entertaining horse riding event, Britain were just three seconds in front of Russia. Their advantage was helped as some of their opponents had unfortunate incidents in the third event.
Lithuania, who started the horse riding in fifth, and Ukraine were forced to pull out after their athletes were injured when their horses fell.
In the combined, Mhairi Spence looked to have put the host nation in an unassailable position after a near perfect run/shoot.
However Fell, admittedly not at her best, struggled with the new format and could only bring her team home outside the medal places.
The team were distraught at the end and, after regaining her composure, Spence explained: “It can be the smallest thing that is not right but you can’t pinpoint it.
“In swimming, if you are not putting your arm in the right way, someone can spot it but when you are shooting it can be the smallest millimetre that’s wrong and you just can’t see it,” she added.
“Heather had a really good fence this morning, she was fighting for everything but it is a team competition and we didn’t win.”
Spence continued: “We said before the competition, especially before the combined that it is a new event for us and no one is going to blame anyone, what happens happens. We are a team and we will stick together.”
Czech Republic's women's team made it a relay double as they clinched gold with silver going to Germany and bronze to Poland.
