British hope weale plays waiting game

Sam Weale finished 25th in his first World Championship final inBudapest and now faces an anxious wait to learn whether he willbecome the first British male modern pentathlete to compete at anOlympic Games since 1996.

Weale, originally from Yeovil but now living in Bath, wascompeting in the first World Championship final of his career inHungary last Sunday.

His final position did not add to his overall ranking points, sohe must now wait to discover if his performan- ces over the lastyear will put him high enough up the International Modern PentathlonUnion's Olympic ranking list to put him in with a chance of goingto Beijing.

Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB performance director, said: "I'd bedevastated if he didn't get to the Games.

"He's worked hard this year and I think he deserves his place.

"It was a really tough competition for him today. He started offwell, but he just couldn't break into the fencing competition. Thatwas where he lost it.

"He fought back, but unfortunately 25th was the best he coulddo," he added.

"I don't think it's the end of it for him.

"We now have to wait until the qualification list is published tosee where we are."

Weale, and his British teammate Nick Woodbridge, will both hopethere are enough places on the ranking list to give them theopportunity to compete in Beijing.

Weale, the only British athlete to make the final in Budapest,was 16th after the 10m air pistol shoot, scoring 181 from a maximum200 for 1,108 modern pentathlon points.

But he failed to reproduce his strong fencing performance fromthe semis - he won 11 contests and lost 24 in the final. That addedjust 664 points to his total.

Problems with the pool in Budapest meant organisers re-arrangedthe schedule with the ride becoming the third discipline.

Weale sustained 112 penalties in the arena and followed that upwith the seventh fastest swim - 2:01.09.

He clocked a time of nine minutes 30.54 seconds for the 3km run -the final discipline. That was the 11th fastest run, earning him1,120 points and a total of 5,328, pushing him up to 25th in theoverall positions.

Great Britain's men ended their Modern Pentathlon WorldChampionship campaign with a seventh place finish in the team relayon Tuesday.

The trio of Ben McLean, Weale and Woodbridge produced the bestperformance in the swimming discipline in Budapest, but finishedoutside the medals.

Bartu said: "I think this is the highest finish we've achieved ina men's team event or team relay at a World Championships for 10years, so I'm very happy.

"It was a good final day for us," he added. "In medal terms,placings and Olympic qualification, it's the best WorldChampionships we've had for years."