MODERN PENTATHLON Bath's Sam Weale fell agonisingly short of a medal when he finished fourth in the year's opening World Cup event in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

The 28-year-old, who lives in the city and trains at the University of Bath, scored a perfect 1,200 points in the riding and produced the second-fastest time in the combined run-shoot of 10mins 39secs to surge up the rankings.

However, his final total of 5,704 points was 16 less than that achieved by Lithuanian bronze medalist Andrejus Zadneprovksis. David Svodoba of the Czech Republic won gold ahead of Serguei Karyakin of Russia in second.

Weale had earlier been placed 18th after the fencing and 16th after the swimming, while Britain's other two contenders – Nick Woodbridge and James Cooke – finished 21st and 22nd overall respectively.

Teenager Cooke, who now trains at the Pentathlon GB high performance centre at the University of Bath, made a strong impression on his senior World Cup debut when he posted the day's fastest swim in 2:00.70.

Meanwhile, Heather Fell and Louise Helyer finished fifth and eighth respectively in the women's competition.

Fell set personal bests in both the fencing and the riding on her way to a points total of 5,340, while Helyer set the day's fastest time of 2:15.01 in the swimming pool and also recorded a perfect score of 1,200 in the riding.

Samantha Murray, aged 20, was Britain's third contender in Mexico and finished 16th overall.