Samantha Murray insists she is champing at the bit to get going as the London 2012 silver medallist looks to lead Great Britain’s charge at next week’s Modern Pentathlon World Championships.
Great Britain won two medals at last year’s World Championships in Chinese Taipei – a gold in the women’s team event and an individual silver courtesy of Nick Woodbridge, who misses the 2014 edition through injury.
And two years ago Mhairi Spence became only the third British woman pentathlete to win the individual World Championship title when she took gold in Rome.
Murray will look to follow Spence’s footsteps in Warsaw and admits she is feeling confident of doing exactly that.
“It’s going to be a hard week, but I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “With three competitions in five days it will be demanding and draining, but hopefully exciting and rewarding.
“I’m in good shape and I’ve done everything I can do up to now.”
The women’s relay pairing of Murray and Alice Fitton will be first in action on Monday with the former hoping it will be the first of three competitions for her in five days, with the women’s individual qualifiers following on Wednesday and the final on Friday.
Three of their scores will count towards the team competition, an event in which Kate French, Murray and Spence won gold last year.
Tuesday sees Britain's 2011 world junior champion Jamie Cooke partner Tom Toolis for the men’s relay with the latter having won bronze in the event with Sam Curry at last month’s European Championships in Hungary.
A young British men’s quartet of Joe Choong, Cooke, Curry and Joe Evans get their individual campaigns underway on Thursday, aiming for spots in Saturday’s final. Three of the team will be nominated for their scores to count towards the team competition.
It’s a young men’ team – they will arrive in Warsaw with an average age of just under 21 – and Pentathlon GB performance director Jan Bartu is eager to see them in action.
“It’s the youngest men’s team we have ever had. Jamie is the oldest at 23. It’s going to be interesting to see them compete,” Bartu said.
“It’s a good transition and part of the bigger picture for us. It’s an important part of our preparations for the Games for our young athletes to experience the World Championships.”
© Sportsbeat 2014