Two-time Olympian Sam Weale will return to international action for the first time since London 2012 when he competes at this week’s Budapest Modern Pentathlon World Cup.
Weale finished tenth at the Beijing 2008 Olympics before following that up with 13th place at the London Games last summer, winning silver at the 2010 European Championships in Hungary in between.
But after winning the first National Selection competition in Bath in December the 31-year-old has been left frustrated by injury, only returning to action at last month’s British Championships where he came second behind Jamie Cooke in the senior competition.
However Weale will return to international competition as he is named as part of a five-strong British team heading for Budapest for the fourth World Cup of the year and the final chance to score qualifying points to reach this year’s World Cup Final.
And Pentathlon GB performance director Jan Bartu said: “Sam is the most senior athlete on the programme at the moment.
“It’s his return to the international stage and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do after such a long gap.”
Cooke, Britain’s 2011 world junior champion, joins Weale in the men’s competition in Budapest.
Two further London 2012 Olympians will also be in action for Britain, silver medallist Samantha Murray and reigning individual world champion Mhairi Spence, who are joined by Katy Burke.
Spence gets an automatic place at the World Cup Final, which is at Nizhny Novgorod in Russia from May 31 to June 2, by virtue of being the reigning individual world champion.
The remainder of the places are determined by athletes’ World Cup standings after the fourth World Cup of the year, with the top-35 athletes per gender qualifying with up to a maximum of three per nation.
Burke is currently 15th in the World Cup standings with Murray 32nd while Kate French, who isn’t competing in Budapest, is 14th.
Joe Evans looks to have nailed his World Cup Final spot as he is currently third overall in the men’s standings and doesn’t compete in Budapest. Cooke is 41st and a decent performance would earn him a place at Nizhny Novgorod.
© Sportsbeat 2013