Modern Pentathlon World Cup: Tom Toolis and Kate French impress in Hungary

Image source, UIPM

Image caption, Great Britain's Tom Toolis
  • Author, Nick Hope
  • Role, 大象传媒 Olympic sports reporter

British pentathlete Tom Toolis edged towards a place at the Tokyo Olympics by claiming the first World Cup medal of his career with silver at the Grand Final in Hungary.

Toolis' success came a day after Kate French won gold in the women's event.

He led after the penultimate show jumping round, but was edged out of gold during the laser gun shooting-run final event by triple world champion Valentin Prades of France.

"I can't believe it," said Toolis.

"I've never had a podium before and it feels amazing."

Jamie Cooke, the 2018 world champion, finished 19th with Sam Curry 25th.

On Friday, world number three French secured her third podium of the season, beating world number four Annika Schleu of Germany into second after a superb performance in the final event, the laser-run.

"I'm heading in the right direction and hope to keep training hard and aiming for gold in Tokyo," said French.

Joanna Muir was sixth and Francesca Summers eighth.

With a maximum of two places per gender available for each nation athletes at Tokyo 2020 British selectors face a difficult decision over who should be selected for the Games.

European champion Joe Choong did not compete in Hungary, but is a leading contender for the men's Team GB Olympic line-up.

The World Championships in June will be final opportunity for athletes to prove their credentials for the Games before the Team GB squad is announced later that month.