University of Bath student Joe Choong will represent Great Britain in the individual competition at next month’s Modern Pentathlon World Championships for the first time.
The 19-year-old had originally been selected for the men’s relay at the championships in Warsaw. He now steps into the berth for the individual competition vacated by double Olympian Nick Woodbridge, who misses the championships through injury.
Woodbridge will concentrate on getting fit for next season, when the qualification process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games gets underway.
“This is going to be a massive opportunity for Joe to see if he can compete at the top senior level,” said Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director.
Choong is a studying for a degree in Mathematics at the University of Bath and although still a junior athlete, he reached the final of last month’s European Championships in Hungary, finishing 36th.
The world championships run from 1st to 9th September and he will compete in Warsaw just days after his 17-year-old brother represents Great Britain in the pentathlon at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
Sam Curry, who was scheduled to only contest the men’s individual competition at the World Championships, will now also replace Joe Choong in the men’s relay team. He partners Tom Toolis, which means Britain will field the same pairing that won bronze at the European Championships.
Joe Evans and Kate French are likely to contest the mixed relay.
The team are now continuing their preparations for the championships at their altitude training base at Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees.
Bartu said: “Training is going well and we’re looking forward to the world championships. So far so good.”
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.
The national ranking competitions 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.
