Britain took gold at the recent Modern Pentathlon World Cup when 25-year-old Heather Fell from Devon put in a strong performance in all disciplines.
A delighted Heather told H&H: “It’s absolutely fantastic. I wasn’t expecting to win at all — I only just got through to the final.
“Also I had a fall show jumping on the Wednesday before so was still feeling rather sore and not overly confident. But that made the result even more rewarding.”
The third of five World Cups of the year the event was held at Millfield School in Somerset from 27-30 March.
The win was an important one for Britain as the event was the last major international modern pentathlon in the UK before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Modern Pentathlon is made up of shooting, fencing, swimming, running and show jumping.
In the shooting Heather scored 188 points out of a possible 200 — her personal best, and she also scored her fastest time of the year in the swimming.
In the show jumping phase riders are allocated their horses by drawing lots and only spend 20 minutes with their horse before they take part in the show jumping event.
Heather was paired with GV, a seven-year-old chestnut mare. They produced a clear round in 67 seconds; one of only two clears of the day.
The win was sealed for Heather as she finished first in the 3K cross country run, providing her with her first World Cup gold and second World Cup medal — having previously taken bronze in Moscow last May
Heather finished on 5520 points — over 100 points more than her nearest rival, Aya Medany from Egypt who finished in second place.
In the men’s World Cup, held over the same weekend, Britain’s Sam Weale took bronze.
