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Jess Swims, Runs, Shoots, and Fences for Britain

Modern pentathlete Jessica Wilcox was off to Portugal at the end of term after being selected to represent Great Britain at the prestigious Copo Atlantic Cup competition.

Jessica was spotted by selectors while taking part in the National Biathlon Championships in Macclesfield in May.

Now she is off to Lisbon for her first taste of international competition, to take part in the annual tetrathlon, this year between Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Great Britain and she will be competing up an age group with three other youth girls that have been selected to represent Great Britain. There she will compete in swimming, running, fencing, shooting after attending an international training camp at the start of a week long stay.

Jessica, a member of the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain, said: “I have come to recognise that I have a talent for pentathlon, being a strong competitor with my fencing, shooting and swimming. My running is my strongest discipline and has always pushed my score up significantly. Training in five events takes a huge amount of time. Juggling with school work and having a social life at the same time, means I never ever have nothing to do! I get a lot of support from my parents and thank PGS in bringing out my running talent. I hope to do well in Portugal and could then be selected to be a team member for the Europeans next year! Competing in Portugal is going to be a great experience. My two trips to Club La Santa with the school and my trip to Killington last year have prepared me well for traveling without my family.”

Jessica, a Year 9 pupil, came fourth in the British Pentathlon Championship at Millfield last summer and has won all the modern pentathlons she has entered since. She is a member of the national pentathlon youth squad, attending talent identification training camps around the country.

She runs almost every day, practises her shooting most evenings, fences at Seacourt on Hayling Island and at St Luke’s School, Portsmouth up to twice a week, puts in around two hours a week at the swimming pool and rides out with the Hambledon Hunt North, which she has belonged to since she was eight.

Stuart Mason, British Pentathlon’s World Class Development Programme Manager, said: “Jessica has done very well to get into the team. There are a lot of youngsters coming into the sport and the Copo Atlantica Cup is the competition to which they all aspire.”

Jessica will travel with the British squad – parents are not invited as the competition is seen as one of the first steps towards coping with bigger international meets and is aimed at developing self sufficiency and organisational skills.

Did you know? The Modern Penthathlon comprises five unrelated disciplines, said to arise from the adventures of a liaison officer whose horse was brought down in enemy territory. He defended himself with his pistol and sword, and then swam across a raging river to deliver his message on foot.

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