Pentathlon News
Weale wins historic European Championships silver medal posted by Steve Ballinger on18-07-2010
Britain's Sam Weale is celebrating winning the individual silver medal at the Modern Pentathlon European Championships in Hungary today (Sunday).
The 28-year-old Beijing 2008 Olympian produced a terrific run/shoot to climb from seventh place to second at the championships in Debrecen.
The University of Bath-based pentathlete becomes the first British man to win an individual medal at a Modern Pentathlon European Championships. Team-mate Nick Woodbridge finished 26th today.
Weale's success means Britain have accumulated two medals at the championships so far, following the British women’s trio of Heather Fell, Katy Livingston and Mhairi Spence, who won bronze in the women’s team event at the championships yesterday (Saturday).
Weale, who is ranked 25th in the world and finished 10th at the Beijing Olympics, said: "It felt pretty good to cross the line in second today. I felt a foot taller and there was a real spring in my step when I crossed the line.
“I felt good and quite strong after the semi-final on Friday, but my combined event hadn’t gone so well, so I was a little nervous today.
“But I thought the final would be a good opportunity to put it right. I thought I was in with a chance after the fencing, but I was a little annoyed with the ride today because I had two fences down.
“Going into the combined event I thought potentially I was in the running for a medal. I felt quite confident, but it was a bit of surprise and a relief. It’s my first European or World Championship medal, hopefully there will be many more medals to come,” said Weale, who won his first World Cup medal, a bronze, in 2008.
Dominic Mahony, GB team manager, said: “This is a very significant result for the British team. It’s the first of its kind since Richard Phelps won the World Championships in 1993. Sam was solid in every element of the combined event today.”
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said he was delighted to see a first individual men’s medal by a British athlete at a European Championships.
“This was a fantastic performance. It’s what we’ve been working towards for the last 11 years,” he said.
“It’s been a tough journey, but I knew we had the potential to get there,” he added. “This is going to be a big morale boost for all of the athletes in the programme.”
Weale produced an impressive finish to his day after going into the final event, the run/shoot, in seventh place 41 seconds behind leader Andrei Moiseev of Russia.
Weale was the third athlete to leave the shooting range on the second shoot, behind Moiseev and David Svoboda of the Czech Republic. Svoboda had overhauled the Russian going into the third shoot, but Weale followed the Czech out of the shooting range and was comfortably able to stay clear of the chasing pack to win an impressive silver medal.
Weale had started the day slightly the better of the two Brits in action today, winning 19 of his 35 fencing bouts for 856 points and joint 11th place. Woodbridge won 18 contests for 832 points, making him joint 15th.
Both Brits moved into the top-10 after the swim. Woodbridge’s 2:03.60 was fifth fastest and saw him climb up to eighth overall, while Weale’s 2:06.42 was 13th fastest, promoting him to 10th overall.
Weale climbed a further three places up the rankings in the ride. He dropped just 40 points for 10th in the riding arena and seventh overall going into the run/shoot - 164 points behind Russian leader Andrei Moiseev.
Woodbridge dropped 96 points from the maximum 1200 to go into the run/shoot in 14th place.
Weale’s time of 10:31.90 for the combined event was the 11th fastest in the field, while Woodbridge clocked a time of 11:25.59.
Britain only has two men competing in the individual event in Debrecen, so did not feature in the team competition.
Tomorrow (Monday) the women return to action in the team relay competition. Katy Burke, Samantha Murray and Freyja Prentice go for Great Britain.
Weale and Woodbridge are back in action on Tuesday, along with Jamie Cooke, in the men’s team relay.
Results from European Championships men’s final
Individual
Gold: David Svoboda (CZE) - 5812
Silver: Sam Weale (GBR) - 5776
Bronze: Stefan Kollner (GER) - 5732
26th: Nick Woodbridge (GBR) – 5516
Team
Gold: Germany (Steffen Gebhardt, Stefan Kollner, Delf Borrmann) - 16972
Silver: Czech Republic (David Svoboda, Michal Michalik, Ondrej Polivka) - 16972
Bronze: Lithuania (Justinas Kinderis, Andrejus Zapneprovskis, Edvinas Krungolcas) - 16932
For further information, please contact Steve Ballinger in the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 07765 071683 or visit the website www.pentathlongb.org
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