Most of the world’s top modern pentathletes will be in action at the Millfield World Cup – the last major international modern pentathlon event in the UK before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Members of the media are welcome to attend the World Cup at Millfield from 27th to 30th March.
There will also be an opportunity to interview members of the GB team ahead of the World Cup at a press conference at Millfield on Wednesday 26th March.
For media accreditation for Millfield, further information about the event or for interviews with members of the GB team, please contact Steve Ballinger at Matchtight Ltd, by email at steve@matchtight.co.uk or by phone on 07765 071683.
Further news items about the Millfield World Cup will be posted on this site in the build-up to the competition and during the World Cup itself.
Results available for World Junior Championships posted by Skip on06-08-2010
To follow the latest results from the World Junior Championships, just click on the link here
Watch BBC's coverage of Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on13-04-2010
Did you miss Mhairi Spence's bronze medal winning performance at the Medway World Cup or just want to re-live Mhairi's magical Medway moment? If so, you can catch up with the pick of the action from Medway on the BBC website by clicking here.
Ollie Williams' coverage of the event on the BBC website includes interviews with Mhairi after she won her first World Cup medal and with Katy Burke, whose fourth place was her highest World Cup finish yet.
There's also an interview with Nick Woodbridge after he secured his highest finish of the season so far, and Olympic silver medallist Heather Fell gives an insight to the challenges pentathletes face in the riding arena.
Britain’s Mhairi Spence wins bronze at Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on11-04-2010
Britain's Mhairi Spence today (Sunday) won the bronze medal in a thrilling climax to the Medway modern pentathlon World Cup.
It was the 24-year-old"s first World Cup medal and the first individual World Cup medal won by a Briton since the introduction of the new climax to the modern pentathlon, the combined run/shoot, at the start of last season.
And in a terrific day for the British team - in which a record eight British athletes had qualified for the final from Friday’s semis - 20-year-old Katy Burke finished fourth to achieve her best World Cup placing yet, with Samantha Murray and Freyja Prentice both securing top-10 finishes in seventh and ninth respectively.
Heather Fell finished 13th, Katy Livingston finished 15th, Lydia Rosling came 19th and Kate French was 28th.
Spence, who started the day by winning the fencing discipline and went into the run/shoot in the lead after a strong performance in the riding arena, took third behind gold medallist Amelie Caze (FRA), the 2007 and 2008 world champion and reigning European champion, and Lithuania’s world number two Donata Rimsaite, who took silver.
Spence said: "I’m really pleased. It’s been amazing. I’ve been training well and I knew I was in really good shape. I was aiming for the top-six, I just wanted to have a decent competition, so to come out on the podium is a bit more than I expected.
“I’ve been working hard on my fencing and it went really well today. I was really focussed and having a good start really built my confidence for the rest of the day.
“I felt like my legs were going all over the place at the end, but the home crowd carried me over the line.”
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB’s performance director, said: “Mhairi’s third place is fantastic for her. She has struggled a bit with the new format and she is just getting there now. We’ve really seen some of our junior athletes coming through today.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic support we’ve had from UK Sport and Lottery funding,” he added.
“It’s been a fantastic event at Medway. The organisation has been immaculate.”
Burke, whose fourth place finish improved on her previous best sixth place finish in Cairo last month, said: “This is one of the toughest World Cups, so I really can’t believe it. I was so nervous this morning, much more nervous than I’ve been for ages. All the training has paid off today.”
Nineteen-year-old Prentice produced the third fastest run/shoot of the day, clocking a time of 12:20.53 to climb from 20th to ninth and ensure she continued her impressive record of finishing in the top-10 in all four of her World Cups to date.
“I managed to pick up a few places on the run/shoot and finish in the top-10 again, so I’m happy,” she said.
Eighteen-year-old Kate French, who originally comes from Kent, finished 28th overall at her first World Cup. “My aim was to get into the final and I was really pleased to have done that. I had so much encouragement from the crowd today.”
Spence made a terrific start to the day by winning the fencing discipline with 26 victories from her 35 contests. Spence was at or near the top of the leaderboard throughout the fence and won 11 contests before suffering her first defeat. She took 1024 points into the swim.
Murray was the next best of the Brits, finishing seventh with 21 victories. That was one more win and one place higher than team-mate Livingston, while Burke’s 19 wins put her 13th.
Prentice, Fell and French were all joint 24th with 15 wins. Fell started slowly with five wins and 10 defeats from her first 15 contests, but dug deep to work her way up the leaderboard.
Kent teenager French, competing at her first World Cup, claimed the notable scalp of Olympic champion Lena Schoneborn (GER) among her 15 wins.
Rosling won 12 of her bouts for 30th place, recovering from a score of 1-6 early on.
Poland’s Paulina Boenisz and France’s Amelie Caze were tied for second place behind Spence.
Spence continued to lead the British challenge after the swim – although there were now four Brits in the top-10. Spence finished fourth in heat five in a time of 2:15.04, but dropped down to third overall.
Murray was the pick of the Brits in the pool. She set a personal best time of 2:09.72 in the fastest heat of the day – a time that was only bettered by Hungary’s Leila Gyenesei. That meant she climbed from seventh to fourth overall.
Livingston also rose up the leaderboard. Her time of 2:11.94 was a personal best and sixth fastest, pushing her up from eighth to fifth overall.
Burke produced the fourth fastest time, 2:10.31, for the 200m freestyle to climb from 13th to sixth, while Fell climbed from 24th to 20th with a swim of 2:17.00.
French swam 2:18.31, another personal best, to put her 25th overall, while Prentice’s 2:18.44 put her 27th and Rosling’s 2:17.22 put her 30th.
Caze had climbed to first place after the swim, with Gyenesei second and Spence in third place on the same points as the Hungarian.
But Spence produced an impressive ride to climb back into pole position. Riding Zed, an eight-year-old bay gelding, she had just one fence down to add 1180 points to her score, taking her total to 3384.
Gyenesei collected 60 penalties for knocking down three fences and also accumulated 32 time penalties to relegate her to third, while Caze had four fences down to drop to second.
It meant fence went into the run/shoot with a six second lead over Caze, and with Gyenesei a further 12 seconds back.
Two other Brits were also in the top five, with Murray staying in fourth place after accumulating 60 jumping penalties and 20 time penalties. Burke also rode well. She only had three fences down for 60 penalties to climb to fifth. Murray was 29 seconds off the lead and Burke 37.
Livingston’s 160 jumping penalties saw her drop to ninth place, while fellow Beijing 2008 Olympian Fell climbed from 20th to 13th by producing one of only two clear rounds in the allowed time to add the perfect 1200 points to her score.
Prentice had two fences down to climb from 27th to 20th going into the run/shoot, while French had two fences down and a refusal to rise one place to 24th. Rosling also climbed up the rankings from 30th to 26th courtesy of a ride that saw her knock over just three fences.
In the run/shoot, Spence left the range at the same time as Caze after the first shoot, with Gyenesei third, from Burke and Murray.
Spence opened up a slight lead in the first 1km run, but Caze was the first to leave the shooting range after the second shoot, with Murray now up to fourth and Burke fifth.
Caze held on to her lead in the penultimate run and was again first away from the shooting range, with Spence behind her. Rimsaite produced the best run/shoot of the day to exit third from the range and overhauled Spence on the final 1km run to take silver.
Medway World Cup results
Gold: Amelie Caze (FRA) – 5312 points
Silver: Donata Rimsaite (LTU) – 5260 points
Bronze: Mhairi Spence (GBR) – 5228 points
4th: Katy Burke (GBR) – 5188 points
7th: Samantha Murray (GBR) – 5136 points
9th: Freyja Prentice (GBR) – 5100 points
13th: Heather Fell (GBR) – 5036 points
15th: Katy Livingston (GBR) – 5012 points
19th: Lydia Rosling (GBR) – 4956 points
28th: Kate French (GBR) – 4560 points
For more information see the competition website at http://www.pentathlongb.org/mpwc/index.php
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
Spence leads going into run/shoot at Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on11-04-2010
Britain's Mhairi Spence will go into the run/shoot at the Medway World Cup final in first place after an impressive ride.
Spence had just one fence down on her ride to climb into pole position ahead of the combined event.
Samantha Murray goes into the run/shoot in fourth place with Katy Burke fifth , while Katy Livingston also stayed in the top-10 in ninth place.
Heather Fell, who produced one of just two clear rounds in the allowed time, climbed to 13th place.
Freyja Prentice climbed seven places to 20th, while Kate French climbed to 24th and Lydia Rosling to 26th.
Great Britain have a record eight athletes in the 36-strong field in the final of the Medway World Cup. The event is taking place at Medway Park.
Four British women in top-10 after swim at Medway World Cup final posted by Steve Ballinger on11-04-2010
Great Britain have four women in the top-10 after two events at today's (Sunday) Medway World Cup final
Mhairi Spence continues to lead the British challenge - she goes into the riding in third place after the swim.
Samantha Murray climbed from seventh to fourth after producing the second fastest swim of the day, while Katy Livingston climbed from eighth to fifth.
Katy Burke is in sixth place going into the riding, while Heather Fell climbed from 24th to 20th in the swim.
Kate French is 25th, Freyja Prentice 27th and Lydia Rosling 30th.
Great Britain have a record eight athletes in the 36-strong field in the final of the Medway World Cup. The event is taking place at Medway Park.
Spence tops leaderboard after fencing at Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on11-04-2010
Britain's Mhairi Spence tops the leaderboard at the end of the fencing at the Medway modern pentathlon World Cup final.
Spence won 26 of her 35 fencing contests today to collect 1024 pentathlon points.
Samantha Murray is currently seventh with 21 victories, with Katy Livingston eighth on 20 wins.
Katy Burke is 13th with 19 wins, while Heather Fell, Kate French and Freya Prentice are all joint 24th with 15 wins a-piece. Lydia Rosling is 30th with 12 victories.
Great Britain have a record eight athletes in the 36-strong field in the final of the Medway World Cup.
Woodbridge produces outstanding run/shoot for 14th at Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on10-04-2010
Britain's Nick Woodbridge produced a stunning run/shoot, taking almost a minute off his personal best, to finish 14th in the final of the Medway modern pentathlon World Cup today (Saturday).
The Beijing 2008 Olympian clocked a time of 11:01.37, the fourth fastest time in the field, to end his Medway campaign on a high note by climbing from 18th to 14th.
But it was Hungary"s world number one and reigning world champion Adam Marosi who took gold in a photo finish with Ondrej Polivka of the Czech Republic, who had to settle for silver.
Woodbridge went into the run/shoot in 18th, but hit all five of his targets in five shots on his first shoot, and took six shots to hit five targets on his second visit to the shooting range, before leaving the range in 16th place.
The 23-year-old again used just six shots for the five targets on the final shoot, before producing a strong final 1km run to secure his highest World Cup finish of the year.
"This was by far my best combined event,” he said. “In the past I think I’ve been a bit too cautious with the combined, but today I just decided to go for it.
“My fencing was very poor this morning - it just didn’t click – and I was very disappointed with the ride.
“To have the fourth best combined was fantastic. I’ve been working on it this season and it was great to pull it off today. It gives me something to build on for the rest of the season.
“The home crowd were great here today,” he added. “They helped me on by one or two places on the last lap.”
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB performance director, said: “Nick has taken almost a minute off his personal best for the combined event, which is massive. We’ve been trying to catch up with the best countries in the combined event and it seems to be happening.
“Now we’re really looking forward to seeing how the girls go tomorrow,” he added.
Earlier Woodbridge had made a slow start to the day, winning 13 of his 35 fencing bouts. That earned him 712 points for 29th place overall. Marosi led the way, winning 25 bouts for 1000 points and first place ahead of Polivka and Alexander Lesun (RUS), who were joint second.
But Woodbridge produced a trademark strong swim to propel his way up the field to 16th place. His time of 1:54.89 was the second fastest – a time that was only bettered by Poland’s Remigiusz Golis. Woodbridge collected 1424 points to take him to 2136 overall.
Marosi continued to lead the field, with Polivka second and Lesun third.
The riding element is another of Woodbridge’s strengths. Facing a difficult course on Dakar, a seven-year-old bay gelding, he dropped 140 points from the maximum 1200 that is awarded for a clear round in the allowed time.
That meant he dropped down two positions to 18th going into the run/shoot.
Just one rider, Marosi went clear to score the perfect 1200 points and extend his lead at the head of the field. That meant he went into the run/shoot 24 seconds clear of Lesun in second place with Robert Kasza of Hungary third
Woodbridge’s total of 3196 points meant he started one minute and 34 seconds behind Marosi.
Polivka started the run/shoot 39 seconds behind Marosi in fourth, but battled his way through the field. Marosi just edged out the Czech in a thrilling race to the finish line to take gold, with Lesun taking bronze.
Tomorrow (Sunday) the women return to action – and Great Britain will have a record-breaking eight women among the 36-strong field.
Katy Burke, Heather Fell, Kate French, Katy Livingston, Samantha Murray, Freyja Prentice, Lydia Rosling and Mhairi Spence all qualified from Friday’s semis.
Results from Medway World Cup
Gold: Adam Marosi (HUN) - 5760 points
Silver: Ondrej Polivka (CZE) - 5760 points
Bronze: Alexander Lesun (RUS) – 5712 points
14th: Nick Woodbridge (GBR) – 5552 points
For more information see the competition website at http://www.pentathlongb.org/mpwc/index.php
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
Woodbridge 18th going into run/shoot at Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on10-04-2010
Britain's Nick Woodbridge goes into the climax of today's Medway World Cup final in 18th place.
Woodbridge sustained 140 penalty points in the riding arena to add 1060 points to his total.
But he dropped down from 16th to 18th going into the run/shoot at the competition, which is taking place at Medway Park.
It means Woodbridge goes into the run/shoot one minute and 34 seconds behind leader Adam Marosi from Hungary, the reigning world champion.
Further details to follow.
Woodbridge up to 16th after swim at Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on10-04-2010
Britain's Nick Woodbridge climbed to 16th place after the swim at the final of the Medway modern pentathlon World Cup today (Saturday).
Woodbridge produced a trademark powerful swim of 1:54.89 to climb from 29th after the fencing.
His time for the 200m freestyle was only bettered by Poland's Remigiusz Golis of Poland. The World Cup is taking place at Medway Park.
Woodbridge 29th after fencing at Medway World Cup posted by Steve Ballinger on10-04-2010
Britain's Nick Woodbridge won 13 of his 35 fencing bouts in the men's final of the Medway modern pentathlon World Cup today (Saturday).
That put him 29th going into the second discipline of the day, the 200m freestyle swim. The competition is taking place at Medway Park.
Further details to follow.
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