British trio close in on Beijing

Nick Woodbridge, Sam Weale and Ben McLean boosted their Olympic qualifying prospects with a strong showing at the modern pentathlon World Cup in Madrid.

The British trio finished ninth, 11th and 13th respectively on Sunday, as all three improved on their existing third-best performances.

The top three scores at major events count towards the Olympic ranking list.

Pentathlon GB performance director Jan Bartu said: "They've worked hard and been through some tough times."

"This is a very good set of results. There were ups and downs in the day, as there always are in this sport, but the final placings speak for themselves.

"It's a great encouragement for the team and I don't know what more I could have asked for.

"You can't rule out anything until it's over and the ranking list closes but, in theory, it's still wide open."

All three athletes are hoping to emulate Richard Phelps, the last British male modern pentathlete to compete at an Olympic Games, at Atlanta in 1996.

Great Britain's Mhairi Spence and Georgina Harland finished in the top ten in the women's competition, held on Saturday.

Spence came home sixth in the women's final, with Harland tenth. GB's two World Cup gold medal-winners this year, Katy Livingston and Heather Fell, placed 18th and 30th respectively.

There are two remaining ranking modern pentathlon events before Beijing - the fifth round of the World Cup in the Czech Republic next month and the World Championships in Hungary at the end of May.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Guide to Modern Pentathlon
British Pentathlon
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