The 29-year-old Beijing 2008 Olympian went into the Championships in 85th place in the world rankings at the end of a season that has been hampered by injury and technical problems.

But he produced a good all-round performance today to secure 12th spot at the World Championships in Russia, climbing from 14th during the run/shoot.

He missed out on a top-10 finish by just five seconds.

There was disappointment, though, for team-mate Jamie Cooke, who was competing in his first final at a World Championships.

The 20-year-old's campaign was undermined by as poor performance in the ride, where competitors are allotted horses on a random basis, and he ended the final in 35th place.

Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: "Sam was very consistent throughout the day.

"He was battling his way through in the combined event.

"He had a good last shoot that put him close to 10th and ran as fast as he could.

"After the disappointment of Medway, it was a very important achievement for him today.

"Realistically Jamie didn't have a chance after the ride.

"He used the run/shoot as a practice event and he raced well.

"He has never competed in the final of a World Championships before, so it was a good experience for him."

Weale won 17 of his 35 fencing bouts to put him in 19th place after the first discipline, while Cooke's 13 wins saw him 30th.

Cooke produced another outstanding performance in the pool to climb to 16th.

His 1min 55.47sec for the 200 metres freestyle was comfortably the fastest swim of the day – it was a full two-and-a-half seconds better than the next best time by Poland's Remigiusz Golis.

Weale's 2:04.06 was the 14th fastest of the day, putting him 18th going into the ride.


Andrei Moiseev (pictured), one of three Russians in the top-four, led going to the riding arena.

Weale dropped just 60 points from the maximum 1,200 in the riding arena, moving him up to 14th place going into the run/shoot.

But there was disappointment for Cooke, who had a poor round in the ride and could only add 692 points to his total, meaning he went to the run/shoot in 35th.

Double Olympic champion Moiseev continued to lead going into the run/shoot – a position he held onto to take gold ahead of teammate Aleksander Lesun and Hungary's Adam Marosi.

Tomorrow the World Championships continue with the mixed relay.

Beijing 2008 Olympians Nick Woodbridge and Heather Fell represent Great Britain.

A top three finish in the individual competition at the World Championships achieved the London 2012 qualifying standard, although athletes could also secure ranking points that can count towards qualification.

Freyja Prentice and Cooke have already achieved the London 2012 qualification standard, although they are not guaranteed places on the GB team for 2012 as there are further qualification opportunities and only a maximum of two athletes per gender per nation can compete at the Games.

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