MODERN PENTATHLON: World Junior Champion Jamie Cooke in battle for Olympic place (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)
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Shipton Oliffe pentathlete will know his fate on June 8
11:46am Monday 28th May 2012 in Sport
JAMIE COOKE from Shipton Oliffe must sweat on his selection for the GB Modern Pentathlon team at London 2012 after two team-mates put themselves forward as possible candidates at the last qualifying event – the World Cup Final in Chengdu, China over the weekend.
Nick Woodbridge and Sam Weale just missed out on medals in China, finishing fifth and seventh respectively.
Their strong finishes, however, ensured they forced their way into contention for a team place by virtue of their positions on the Olympic ranking list.
Cooke, Britain’s reigning World Junior Champion, had achieved the Olympic qualifying standard when finishing fourth at last year’s European Championships.
But he has lost ground to Woodbridge and Weale in recent major events and finished 19th in Chengdu.
Only two pentathletes per gender per nation can compete at London 2012.
The British Olympic Association is set to announce the British modern pentathlon team for London 2012 on June 8.
In Chengdu, Cooke won only 13 of his 35 fencing bouts, placing him 30th going into his strongest discipline, the swim.
For once, he didn’t come out on top in the pool, although a strong swim of 1:57.56 was the second fastest of the day – only bettered by Poland’s Remigiusz Golis. That saw Cooke climb to 15th. Cooke dropped 120 points in the riding to go back to 18th, so he started 78 seconds behind the leader in the run/shoot.
Cooke hit five from five on his second shoot, but needed 11 shots on his opening visit to the range and nine on his final visit as he slipped to 19th overall.
World Cup Final men’s results, Chengdu.
Gold: Ilia Frolov (RUS) – 5,788 pts; Silver: Woojin Hwang (KOR) – 5,760 pts; Bronze: Zhongrong Cao (CHN) – 5,736 pts; 5th: Nick Woodbridge (GBR) – 5,668 pts; 7th: Sam Weale (GBR) – 5,648 pts; 19th: Jamie Cooke (GBR) – 5,508 pts.
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