An 11-strong Pentathlon GB squad featuring Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray has been selected to compete at the World Championships in Poland.
The championships, which run from 1st to 9th September, are the last major competition before athletes begin the process of trying to qualify places for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The Pentathlon GB team will arrive in Warsaw as reigning women’s team champions, after Kate French, Murray and Spence struck gold at last year’s competition in Chinese Taipei.
That trio returns to action in the individual competition in Warsaw, where they are joined by Freyja Prentice. Three of the four will be nominated scorers towards the GB team score in Warsaw.
Britain’s other world championship medallist last year was Nick Woodbridge, who won individual silver. Like last year, he faces a late fitness test on an injury before a final decision is made on his participation at Warsaw.
He is joined in the men’s individual competition by the young trio of Jamie Cooke, Sam Curry and Joe Evans.
Samantha Murray and Alice Fitton will get Britain’s campaign underway in the first competition of the championships, the women’s relay, on Monday 1 September. Joe Choong and Tom Toolis will contest the men’s relay the following day.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “We always aspire to medal, whether in individual competitions or as teams.”
The team are now continuing their preparations for the championships at their altitude training base at Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees.
The British athletes will begin their journey to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games in December with the first of three national ranking competitions, taking place at the University of Bath.
They will help determine selections for major competitions on the 2015 international calendar, when the first qualification places are up for grabs.
They include the 2015 European Championships at the University of Bath from 17th to 23rd August, when the top-eight men and women will achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for Rio.
The British team won two medals at last month’s European Championships in Hungary, where Murray and Evans won mixed relay silver, with Curry and Toolis collecting the men’s relay bronze.
