Pentathlon stars record personal World Cup bests
Tom Toolis and Myles Pillage both recorded personal best World Cup finishes on another hugely encouraging day at World Cup 1 for Pentathlon GB athletes. After Francesca Summers’ career-high sixth in the women’s final on Friday, Toolis produced a similarly impressive performance as he came home ninth in Cairo, his first ever WC top ten result. Meanwhile, Pillage had already qualified for the final at a World Cup for the first time and backed up his qualification performance by finishing 22nd in the final, his highest placing at a Category A senior competition. The results rounded off a hugely encouraging week for the British team with Charlie Follett and Kerenza Bryson also qualifying for the women’s final yesterday. The men’s final began in the pool with the 200m swim. As he did at the World Championships last September, Pillage topped the discipline standings, this time clocking a 2minutes 0.36 seconds. Toolis also got his day off to an impressive start, a 2:02.53 placing him fourth in the early standings. The fence was an extremely tight affair with only a small number of hits separating many of the leading athletes. Toolis was embedded in that group, a positive score seeing him finish the second discipline with 19 victories and 16 defeats from his 35 bouts. Alongside him, Pillage got off to a slow start, but the 21-year-old stuck to his task well, eventually finishing with 13 victories to his name. That meant Toolis sat in seventh after the opening two disciplines with Pillage 25th at the end of the morning. The horse-riding mixed things up significantly in the overall standings with many athletes suffering fence and time faults. However, both British athletes kept their nerve, rolling a single pole apiece to score 293 points for their rounds. That saw the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre based duo both make significant ground with Toolis moving up to third and Pillage 17th ahead of the laser run. However, gaps between most of the field were still very small with the battle from third tenth particularly tense. Toolis remained in that group throughout, crossing the line ninth to record his best ever World Cup finish and continuing a fine start to 2019 which also saw him challenge for a medal at the Budapest Indoor Competition in January. Behind him, Pillage was also battling for places, crossing the line 22nd to maintain his own impressive start to the new year. Summers got her 2019 season off to a fantastic start with a superb sixth place finish a. A consistent display across all five disciplines saw the 22-year-old record her best ever World Cup finish on her way to a place on the wider podium. Charlie Follett, competing in her first World Cup final, finished 32nd with Kerenza Bryson 36th after a long and tough day. Summers, Follett and Bryson had all come through qualifying on Wednesday to make the final and started their day in the pool with the 200m swim. It was Bristol’s Follett who started strongest of the Brits, stopping the clock in 2:21.37 with Summers recording a time of 2:23.41 and Bryson 2:26.53. It was to be the fencing hall that dictated the final outcome of the day for the Pentathlon GB athletes, Summers faring by far the best as she secured 20 victories from her 35 bouts in the ranking round before going on to add two additional points in the bonus round. Bryson finished the discipline with 14 victories with Follett on 11 victories. That meant former Junior World Champion Summers was 13th at the end of the morning with Bryson 30th and Follett 35th heading into the ride. Whilst many athletes at the top faltered, a flawless display from Summers saw her pick up the maximum 300 points. Follett also performed well, picking up just three time faults to score 297 points for her round, performances which saw both Brits make significant ground on their nearest rivals. Twenty year old Bryson had a tougher time in the third discipline, a score of 226 ending her hopes of a personal best World Cup finish. As a result, Summers headed into the laser run in sixth with Follett 27th and Bryson 36th after the opening three disciplines. In the combined run-shoot, an excellent display from Summers saw her maintain her position in sixth, recording her best ever World Cup result and a second WC top ten. Behind her, Follett and Bryson both battled well in the final discipline with Follett crossing the line 32nd and Bryson 36th. The second World Cup of 2019 takes place in Sofia from April 10-14 as a busy international season continues. Before that, Pentathlon GB athletes will be in action at the French Open Championships (March 16 & 17) and the Swiss Women International (March 30).