The build-up to the 2012 Olympic Games intensifies for Britain¹s modern
pentathletes when they compete at the first World Cup of the year in the USA
this week.
There are a maximum of two men¹s and women¹s pentathlon places up for grabs
on the British team at the Games.
And British athletes know they need to perform well at this year¹s World
Cups to reach the World Championships in Rome in May, which is the next
opportunity to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard.
Performances at each World Cup this season and the World Championships and
World Cup Final in China in May, will also count towards the World ranking
list, from which athletes could also ultimately achieve the Olympic
qualifying standard.
The opening World Cup of 2012 gets underway in Charlotte in North Carolina,
USA on Thursday (8 March) and concludes on Sunday.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: ³Charlotte is the first
World Cup of the year and will indicate where everyone is at this point.
³It¹s important for individual athletes¹ selection but it¹s also important
to see what other athletes and nations have done over the winter.²
So far 21 men and 20 women have achieved the London 2012 qualifying
standard, including Britain¹s Jamie Cooke and Freyja Prentice. However,
neither are yet guaranteed places on the team.
With 36 men and women due to compete at the Games, around a dozen places for
men and women are likely to be allocated through the ranking list.
The British team train at the Pentahtlon GB High Performance Centre at the
University of Bath.
World Cup 1 8 to 11 March, Charlotte USA
Schedule
(Charlotte times are five hours behind GMT)
Thursday 8 March: women¹s qualification
Friday 9 March: men¹s qualification
Saturday 10 March: women¹s final
Sunday 11 March: men¹s final
GB team
Women
Freyja Prentice (lives: Bath/ home: Inverurie)
Mhairi Spence (Bath/Farr near Inverness)
Heather Fell (Bath/Tavistock, Devon)
Samantha Murray (Bath/Clitheroe, Lancashire)
