Jamie Cooke and Joe Evans starred for Great Britain at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final in Russia with both securing top ten finishes.
Cooke was sixth in Nizhny Novgorod, one place ahead of Evans, in the biggest modern pentathlon event since London 2012. The performances came 24 hours after Britain's reigning world champion Mhairi Spence also claimed seventh place in the women's competition.
It was another sterling display from 22-year-old Cooke, who took gold in the last World Cup round of the year in Hungary last month. The 2011 World Junior Champion went into the final disciples of the day 41 seconds off the lead in 14th place but battled through the field in the run/shoot to finish 40 seconds behind the winner, France's Valentin Prades.
“I’m pretty happy with that, it was better than I expected after the fencing," said Cooke after his best ever World Cup Final showing. “It was a good way to round off the World Cup series. I had a really good swim, a good ride and a good combined today.”
Evans, 19, who was taking part in his first World Cup Final after winning bronze on his World Cup debut in Palm Springs back in February, slipped down the field having gone into the run/shoot in third.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “Jamie and Joe are achieving top international standard performances. This is a dream start to the Rio Olympic cycle for the programme.
"We wanted to have new athletes making a mark and pushing back the boundaries. It’s thanks to the Pathway Development Programme that we have that and I’m feeling very satisfied after this competition.”
© Sportsbeat 2013