Freyja Prentice has surprised herself. On her Modern Pentathlon World Cup debut in Mexico City last month, the 18 year-old from Inverurie finished 10th.

It was a performance that suggested she is on course to compete at London 2012 but it will be one step at a time in what will be a busy year.

Just two days after competing at altitude in Mexico, it was back down to earth when she represented Great Britain at the Bath International which attracted leading competitors from throughout Europe.

“My target in Mexico was just to make the final,” Prentice discloses, “It was pretty intimidating and competing at altitude meant you really felt it in your legs.

“It was only afterwards that I read that I had beaten six athletes who had competed at the Beijing Olympics, including team-mate Katy Livingston, who was seventh at the Olympics.

“It was a late decision to send a team out to the event and, as such, we only arrived the day before whereas the likes of the Canadians and Egyptians had been training for weeks in Colorado in preparation.

“But they say it’s okay going out the day before a competition as the jet lag doesn’t really hit you until the fourth day which was when the final was.

“It was difficult to acclimatise when we got back home and we had to get up at 8am – which was really 2am Mexican time – to get us ready for the competition in Bath.”

Brought up in Inverurie where she came into the sport through horse riding (the same route taken by GB team-mate Heather Fell who won silver in Beijing), she moved to the University of Bath last November to train with the GB team.

She admits that going from training on her own to being part of a squad of 12-15 girls took a bit of getting used to but she is reaping the benefits now.

“There is a big difference from training on your own. Every training session can be like a competition as you’re competing against your team-mates all the time but it also brings a good sense of team spirit when you are together,” she continues.

“There are excellent facilities at Bath and you have all the facilities for proper testing and advice.”

The sport has changed and the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) ruled last year that instead of the traditional five disciplines (shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running) that shooting and running would be combined.

In the new discipline, athletes run 60 metres, shoot at five targets in up to 70 seconds, run one kilometre, shoot at another five targets in 70 seconds, run another one kilometre before shooting at a further five targets in 70 seconds and then finish off with a one-kilometre run.

Prentice was sixth in the run/shoot discipline in Mexico which elevated her into her final finishing position of tenth.

“When they were trialling the new discipline last year, I didn’t do very well. Shooting was one of my strongest events and it took a while for me to get used to it but I’m getting better now,” she states.

It promises to be a busy year for Prentice, as the World Championships in Crystal Palace now loom on the horizon.

She is not guaranteed selection, of course, but her performance in Mexico has laid solid foundations.
There are also the European Junior Championships – where fellow Scot Mhairi Spence has won a bronze – in Bulgaria and the World Junior Championships in Taipei.

The London Olympics are also closer than anticipated. “If I want to compete in London, which would just be amazing, then I would need to qualify in 2011 by getting enough ranking points,” she explains.

“That is only a year-and-a-half away which is scary!”

RM
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