Elite group return to university

Pentathlon GB has confirmed that a group of elite athletes had been identified to return training under Stage One of the DCMS’ ‘Elite Return to Training’ guidance from Monday.

The decision to support and enable a group of athletes to return has been mindful of the government’s advice to start small, ensuring that the environments and processes are right, then expand carefully as and when appropriate. The plans have also been considerate of minimising any additional burden being placed on the NHS.

Pentathlon GB have considered the identified athletes eligible to return to training under the following ESRTT guidance definitions: a senior representative nominated by a relevant sporting body; a member of the senior training squad for a relevant sporting body.

As per the ERTT guidance, Pentathlon GB will be monitoring and approving daily training environments via the appointment of a lead COVID-19 officer, two deputy COVID-19 officers and a COVID-19 medical officer.

As hosts of Pentathlon GB’S National Training Centre, the University of Bath has been selected as the facility in which the initial group of athletes will be supported to train from and have been supportive of the measures required to be in place to allow for Pentathlon GB elite athletes to return safely.

All athletes invited to join the initial group, as well as coaches and medical staff, have been fully appraised of the risks and all mitigating steps being taken by Pentathlon GB in relation to their return, as well as their right to opt out at any time.

The scaled back programme will initially pool and track based, allowing for swimming and laser run sessions to resume, with the intention to move towards reintroducing other forms of activity when a formal assessment of Stage One delivery has been made, and progression to Step Two approved.

Performance director Jan Bartu said: “We are really pleased to be in a position to safely welcome back a small group of athletes to the National Training Centre from next week [Monday, July 13].

“Whilst they have all been working on individual programmes during lockdown, being able to bring them back together, and to the top class facilities that we have access to at the University of Bath, will make a huge difference to the group. This is obviously just the first step to getting back to a full training programme, but we’re excited to be able to be able to finally say that we’ve started the journey.”