World champ Spence takes bronze at Budapest World Cup
12th May 2013
Britain’s reigning modern pentathlon world champion Mhairi Spence won her first World Cup medal of the year, taking bronze in Budapesttoday (Saturday).
The 27-year-old London 2012 Olympian came home in third place behind the Ukrainian duo of Ganna Buriak – who won back-to-back World Cups - and Victoria Tereshuk, the Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist.
Budapest was only Spence’s second World Cup since London 2012 and her performance was a marked improvement on her 33rd in Rio in March. It came a day before the anniversary of her World Championships victory in Rome last year. Team-mate Katy Burke finished in 22ndplace today.
Spence and Burke are both University of Bath graduates and train at the Pentathlon GB high performance centre at the University.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “Mhairi really produced a competitive performance today and she deserved third 100 per cent. It’s 12 months since she won her World Championships and this was another exciting day.”
Spence went into the run/shoot in joint first place alongside Buriak, but the Ukrainian made the decisive breakaway in the third of four 800m runs. Tereshuk, who started the run/shoot in eighth, moved into second spot just ahead of the final shoot.
Buriak held on for first, beating her compatriot by 11 seconds, with Spence comfortable in third a further 16 seconds behind, but 14 seconds clear of Hungary’s Leila Gyenesei.
The two Brits both made decent starts, with Spence sixth after the fencing and Burke seventh. Spence won 21 of her 35 fencing bouts,worth 904 pentathlon points, while Burke’s 20 victories earned her 880 pentathlon points. Italy’s Claudia Cesarini led with 29 wins.
Spence and Burke both moved into the top five with strong 200m freestyle performances. Spence’s 2:12.77 was the 10th fastest time of the day and was worth 1208 points, promoting her to fourth overall.
Burke’s 2:12.24 was the ninth fastest time, adding 1216 pentathlon points to her fencing total and putting her seventh overall going to the equestrian arena. Cesarini continued to lead.
Spence was one of only two riders to complete the riding course in the allowed time and so take the maximum 1200 points.
Her performance in the riding arena saw her go into the run/shoot in joint first place with Buriak. Gyenesei also achieved the maximum in the ride, to go into the run/shoot in third, 11 seconds behind Spence and Buriak.
Burke went into the run/shoot in seventh overall and 34 seconds off the lead after taking 1080 points from the ride.
Spence’s run/shoot time of 13:25.29 saw her secure a podium place, Burke’s challenge faded with a run/shoot of 14:06.89 for 22nd place.
Tomorrow (Sunday) Britain’s Jamie Cooke and Sam Weale compete in the men’s final.
World Cup 4 in Budapest is the last opportunity for athletes to score points to qualify for the World Cup Final, which takes place at Nizhny-Novgorod in Russia from 31 May to 2 June.
World Cup 4 results
Gold: Ganna Buriak (UKR) – 5404 points
Silver: Victoria Tereshuk (UKR) – 5360 points
Bronze: Mhairi Spence (GBR) – 5292 points
22nd: Katy Burke (GBR) – 4992 points
The GB team for Modern Pentathlon World Cup 4 is:
Women
Katy Burke – 01.06,89, Cleveleys, near Blackpool - Bath
Samantha Murray – 25.09.90, Clitheroe, Lancashire - Bath
Mhairi Spence – 31.08.85, Farr, near Inverness - Bath
Men
Jamie Cooke - 03.03.91, Cheltenham - Bath
Sam Weale – 09.02.82, East Coker near Yeovil, Somerset
World Cup 4 schedule
Thursday 9 May – women’s semi-finals
Friday 10 May – men’s semi-finals
Saturday 11 May – women’s final
Sunday 12 May – men’s final