BRITISH TEAM WIN GOLD

The British Relay team of Katy Livingston, Mhairi Spence and Lindsey Weedon won the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships.

We had a great start to the fencing beating the Canadians 7-2. Our success continued with good performances against the USA , Poland , Hungary and China . We finished up with 63vitctories giving us a pentathlon score of 844. Russia won the fencing with 72victories (952points) and Poland were second with 68victories (904points). The combined results after 2 events had GBR in 2nd place 60 points behind Russia.

For the swim we were seeded in the lane next to the Russians, we knew they were capable of producing a strong swim time. Katy began on the first leg swimming well but was up against the fastest Russian athlete who posted a time of 1minute dead and at the 1st change over we were 3seconds behind. Mhairi swam well and kept us in contention with the Russians. I had a good change over and set about trying to make up ground on the final of Russian athlete. I swam well despite not quite catching the Russians I closed their advantage to just 1second. Our combined time was 3.10 (1232points) the Russians swam 3.09 increasing their overall advantage over us to 80points going into the riding. Hungary produced the fastest swim time of 3.07.

The horses we'd seen in the finals of the individual competitions had all been of a good standard and we didn't think the riding would cause too many problems. Unfortunately for us we were wrong. Mhairi is our strongest rider and she was given the horse thought to be the most tricky of the three. She set off first and unfortunately ran into trouble at the 2nd fence having a run out. She cleared it on the 2nd attempt and was going well until the 7th fence where she incurred more penalties for another run out. I rode second and did well scoring a clear round. Katy was our final rider and was unlucky to knock 3 jumps down. We finished on a score of 1078 and very disappointed as we thought the gold medal was out of reach. The Russian team were next in the arena and as we walked, dejected back to our coaches our mood changed as the 3rd of the Russian athletes to ride could get her horse to jump a single fence. Our moods lifted as the Russians dropped down the leader board from 1 st to 12th position, scoring just 472points! The German team had a good ride on home soil moving them up to 3rd position overall.

We were starting the run in 1st place. The Czech team started 10seconds behind us, the Germans 17seconds and the Polish 27seconds. We knew the Czechs wouldn't cause us any upset as they aren't a very strong running team. The Germans had all run well in the individual competition and on home soil were a potential threat. Our biggest concerns were the Polish who had won the gold medal last year in Guatemala . All three Polish athletes were strong runners and we were unsure as to whether our lead was enough to maintain it to the finish line.
Mhairi was is the weakest runner and set off on the first leg. She ran well although was looking tired after the first of the 2x750m running loop. She dug deep and although the polish had put their best runner on the first leg she managed to keep us in the lead by just 4 seconds. Katy ran amazingly gaining vital seconds over the Polish. She handed over to me with a 10second advantage over the final of the Polish athlete. I was extremely nervous, I knew I was in good shape and I had a huge advantage over the Polish girl in that she had competed twice already that week in the semi and final of the individual event. I ran well but found it difficult to tell whether she was catching on me or not from the crowds cheering. I just keep pushing myself and it wasn't until I turned into the final 100m stretch that I knew she wouldn't catch me. It was an amazing feeling crossing the finish line in first place falling into the arms of my other team mates. The polish finished with the silver medal and the German with the bronze. Standing on the top of the podium, being crowned world champions was incredible and a great finish to a frustrating season.