Charlie Brown narrowly misses modern pentathlon final
Kidderminster’s Charlie Brown suffered an agonising semi-final exit in the modern pentathlon at Paris 2024.
The 21-year-old, only called up to the GB squad a week before the Games after Myles Pillage was forced out by injury, had given himself plenty of work to do after a poor performance in Thursday’s fencing ranking round.
But a flawless showjumping display at the Palace of Versailles, on a horse which - as according to the rules of modern pentathlon - he had met only minutes before, moved him back into contention.
Despite that, the Olympic debutant was unable to continue the momentum in the bonus fencing round and despite a solid swim, started the laser run in 13th position.
With only the top nine going through to Saturday’s final, Brown could not quite make up the deficit, ultimately missing out on a place by just three points.
"“The fencing ranking from yesterday just left me with too low a score to claw back up,” said Brown.
“It’s been a dream come true. I could still hear my family and friends over the French, which was really nice, even though there was so much noise.
“I tried to focus on myself despite starting quite low down. I focused on the ride, swim and the run. I left everything out there."
