Twenty-year-old Jamie Cooke (pictured) achieved the standard by finishing fourth in the men's final on Saturday (July 30) and 21-year-old Freyja Prentice emulated his achievement by finishing eighth in the women's final yesterday.

Speaking after a GB men's team of juniors James Myatt and Rob Flack, along with senior challenger Sam Weale, had finished fifth in the men's relay, the concluding event of the Championships, Bartu commented: "We've completed the mission as far as qualifying places for the Olympic Games is concerned.

"We need to understand this is the toughest pentathlon competition this year.

"All the top teams came 100 per cent prepared to qualify their athletes.

"We've taken two places, but we still have more expectations.

"Having the World Cup Final and European Championships back-to-back has been a fantastic experience for the team.

"We've learned more about how it's going to be in a year's time in London."


Although Cooke and Prentice (pictured) have achieved the qualification standard, they are not guaranteed places on the British team for 2012 as there are further opportunities for their teammates to achieve the standard between now and June next year, and a maximum of two athletes per nation, per gender can take part in the modern pentathlon competition at the 2012 Games.

The next chance for athletes to qualify is the World Championships in Moscow in September.

In the penultimate competition of the Championships, a young British women's team - featuring junior athletes Kate French and Prentice, as well as 22-year-old Samantha Murray - finished eighth in their relay.

"The girls couldn't match the opposition in the relay today, particularly in the fencing and the shooting," said Bartu.

"But fifth place for the boys in this competition is a fantastic achievement for them.

"They went head-to-head with the top athletes in the sport and it gives us great pleasure to see new junior athletes doing so well in their first big international event."

Hungary took gold in both the men's and women's relays, with men's silver and bronze going to Poland and Belarus, and women's silver and bronze going to Germany and France respectively.

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