Pentathlon News
World Championships - Woodbridge shows why his star is risingposted by Dominic Mahony on22-11-2006
It may not rank alongside the medals won by their female team mates earlier this week, but Britain's men had cause for satisfaction in finishing 11th in the team relay at the World Championships that ended in Guatemala City, today (21 Nov 06).
For Nick Woodbridge, 18th in the individual championships on Sunday, his third pentathlon competition in five days was possibly his toughest. "My legs were just dead he said, reflecting on the final 3 x 1500m run.
Nick has demonstrated maturity beyond his 20 years this week, commented Performance Director, Jan Bartu. He is an outstanding talent and our main challenge is to allow him to develop progressively without pushing too hard. Team Manager, Dominic Mahony agrees. To finish in the top twenty at the World Championships as a junior is a real achievement. Nick is a terrific prospect for London 2012 and beyond.
In 14th place after shooting, Woodbridge supported by Sam Weale and Ben McLean produced possibly the best team relay fencing by a British men"s team for fifteen years taking fourth place and beating Russia, France, Italy and a Lithuanian team that included the individual gold and bronze medallists, on the way. They carried the momentum into the pool with a combined 3 x 100m relay time of 2.44.23 to take first place and move up to 5th place overall after three events, behind leaders Hungary.
Reality struck in the show-jumping, where one hundred and forty two penalties over the 3 x 9 jump course and 1058 points, saw the team slip down to 8th place after 4 events, whilst Hungary, Belarus, China and USA claimed maximum1200 point rides.
Chasing Korea and Egypt going into the run, hopes were high that they could hold a top ten position. It was not to be, with outstanding runs from Lithuania, France and the Czech Republic pushing Britains men down into 11th place overall, whilst Hungary took gold, and Belarus and China silver and bronze meals, respectively. After three events they showed they had the right to be in the top eight teams, remarked Bartu. Unfortunately, they could not get through the riding in a composed manner, and that costs at this level. Overall, there are positives for us to take away - Nicks performance throughout this week, and Sam Weale coming back from injury to compete at the same level as his team mates with minimal preparation.
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