Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray and former world champion Mhairi Spence are among an array of the country’s most talented modern pentathletes competing at the GB Open Pentathlon Championships in Solihull later this month.
The championships are organised by Pentathlon GB, who are based at the University of Bath, and take place at the Tudor Grange Leisure Centre and the Solihull Riding Club on Sunday, June 29.
They double as the British Championships and the highest placed British finisher in both the men’s and women’s competitions will earn places on the Pentathlon GB team for the European Championships in Hungary next month.
Pentathlon GB performance director Jan Bartu said: “The GB Open is part of the selection process for the European Championships for the second consecutive year. That makes it an important competition for the British athletes.
“We also have some competitors from overseas this year and we want to see the competition grow as an international event in future years.”
Murray, who won the senior title last year, and Spence will be joined in the women’s competition by Kate French, currently the highest British woman in the world rankings at 14. She produced the best performance of her career earlier this month by finishing fourth at the World Cup Final.
The trio that won team gold at last month’s World Junior Championships – Jo Muir, currently number one in the world junior rankings, Francesca Summers and Alice Fitton – will also feature.
There is also a high class field in the men’s competition, reflecting Britain’s strength in the sport.
It includes 2011 world junior champion Jamie Cooke, who won the event last year. Joe Choong, who won the junior and overall titles in 2013, also competes, as does Joe Evans, who won bronze on his senior World Cup debut in the USA last year.
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