London 2012: Modern pentathlon progress report

Podium athletes 10 Development athletes 17 UK Sport Mission 2012 progress rating Green Jan Bartu, performance director In the past year we have … had to change the way we train after the introduction of a run/shoot to replace the individual disciplines of running and shooting. However, we have had some big successes with Sam Weale becoming the first British man to win an individual medal at a senior European Championships (July 2010) and Mhairi Spence winning her first senior World Cup medal (April 2010). Some young athletes, such as Freyja Prentice, Samantha Murray, Katy Burke and Jamie Cooke, are also coming through at senior level. In the next two years we will … be battling it out for places. The competition will be particularly intense on the women's team - we have seven women in the world's top 33, but only up to two can compete at 2012. Medal tally prediction … We certainly have the potential to win a medal in London. Our women have won four of the nine medals contested since the sport for women was introduced to the Olympic programme at Sydney 2000 which is all the more impressive given that each country can only qualify a maximum of two athletes per gender per Games. Hence our six women competitors have won four medals – not a bad return.