Spence fifth at Rome World Cup
24th May 2009Britain’s Mhairi Spence achieved her best Modern Pentathlon World Cup finish of the year, coming fifth in Rome today (Sunday).
Spence, the 2006 European Championships bronze medallist, was never out of the top five places on the overall leaderboard all day.
Fellow Brit Freyja Prentice achieved the highest finish of her World Cup career to date. Her ninth place at only her second World Cup was achieved four days after her 19th birthday and was one place higher than she finished on her World Cup debut in Mexico City in March.
Katy Livingston came 11th – her best World Cup finish of the year – while Heather Fell was 34th after dropping down the field with a problematic ride in the equestrian arena.
Spence, aged 23, set the early pace for the Brits, producing a good fence and swim to put herself third after two disciplines. Her 23 victories from 35 contests in the fencing salle earned her 952 points for fifth overall.
Livingston was 12th with 20 wins for 880 points, while Prentice was 21st with 16 wins worth 784 points. Fell was in 23rd with 760 points from her 15 wins.
Fell gained some ground in the pool. Her time of 2:16.30 was fastest among the Brits and third fastest overall, pushing her up to 15th. Livingston’s 2:16.58 pushed her up the field to seventh, while Spence’s 2:18.56 earned her 1140 points to put her third overall going into the riding. Prentice was only just outside the top half of the field in 20th place after swimming 2:24.08.
Spence kept up her momentum in the equestrian arena, dropping 60 points for 1140 – taking her to fourth overall on 3232 going into the run/shoot.
Livingston was also in contention in eighth on 3204 points after dropping just 40 points in the ride. Prentice was the best of the Brits in the arena, dropping just 20 points to move up to 17th on 3036.
But Fell had a nightmare in the arena – she jumped the obstacles out of order and her ride was terminated. She scored just 92 points for a total of 2020 and 36th overall going into the run/shoot.
Fell produced a strong run/shoot – her time of 12:31.20 was fourth fastest - but she had left herself with too much to do and could only finish 34th.
Spence’s 13:02.30 gave her fifth overall, while Prentice’s 12:42.70 was seventh quickest and gave her ninth overall. Livingston clocked a time of 13:42.50 for 11th overall.
Gold went top Egypt’s Aya Medany, who started the run/shoot in fifth place but overtook Hungary’s Leila Gyenesei in the last of three shooting elements. Russia’s Evdokia Gretchichnikova took bronze after starting the run/shoot in 11th.
The Rome World Cup was the fourth and final World Cup of the year and the last opportunity for athletes to score ranking points to qualify for the World Cup Final in Rio de Janeiro in September.
Results to Rome World Cup
Gold: Aya Medany (EGY) 5656 points
Silver: Leila Gyenesei (HUN) 5596 points
Bronze: Evdokia Gretchichnikova (RUS) 5544 points
5th: MHAIRI SPENCE (GBR) 5464 points
9th: FREYJA PRENTICE (GBR) 5348 points
11th KATY LIVINGSTON (GBR) 5272 points
34th: HEATHER FELL (GBR) 4376 points