VIDEO: Farr world champion on course for London Olympics
THE childhood dreams of Farr’s Mhairi Spence are set to come true after she became the first British woman to win an individual gold at a Modern Pentathlon World Championships for over a decade.
Her victory puts her on course for a place at the Olympics in London this summer.
The 26-year-old achieved the Olympic qualifying standard at the championships event in Rome and is confident she will not be overlooked by the British team selectors.
She was also part of the British team to win gold at the championships, but was the individual winner since Steph Cook in 2001.
“It’s unbelievable,” Spence said. “I’ve dreamt of this quite a lot and I came into this competition knowing that if I won a medal I’d be going to the Olympics.
“I worked hard to keep my head together and not get carried away with the idea of the Olympic Games.
“I’m just so happy and everyone at home is probably going to be crying because it’s just such a relief that I’m definitely going to the Olympics because it’s something I’ve dreamt of since I was eight-years-old.
“I knew what I needed to do and I just had to bully myself into doing it and it worked.”
Ranked fifth in the world prior to the event, Spence produced a tremendous run/shoot to climb from third place to first, overtaking France’s three-times world champion Amelie Caze on the final 1k run.
“People were cheering me on coming down the home straight at the end and I found some extra energy somewhere,” she said. “I just kept fighting and fighting all the way.
“I worked so hard all day to keep it together. When I got to the shooting range I found the flow that we’re always looking for in sport.”
Spence earned 5484 points during the competition, beating second place Qian Chen of China by 24 points.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said it was the best British team performance at the championships for 11 years.
“It was a heroic performance by Mhairi,” she said. “She was really running on empty in the last 200m.”
British team mate Samantha Murray finished third and also reaching the Olympic standard.
It means three British women have achieved the 2012 Olympic standard to date — with Freyja Prentice achieving the feat at last year’s European Championships.
Further British athletes could achieve the standard through the Olympic ranking list, to be published on 1st June, but only two athletes per gender per nation can compete in the pentathlon at the Games.
Spence is optimistic there is not a repeat of four years ago, where she reached the standard but was left out of the Olympic squad for Beijing.
A selection panel will meet early in June to nominate a team to the British Olympic Association, which is scheduled to announce the squad to compete at the Olympic Games on 8th June.