World modern pentathlon champion Jamie Cooke made his intentions for the new season clear with a commanding victory at the opening Pentathlon GB 2019 National Ranking Competition in Bath.

Former Balcarras School pupil Cooke, who was brought up in Andoversford, was second after the fence and swim, but just as was the case in Mexico four months ago when he was crowned world champion, he surged through in the laser run to take control before holding onto his advantage in the horse riding discipline to finish ahead of Myles Pillage and Tom Toolis.

As a result, Plymouth duo Bryson and Pillage were the highest placed Junior athletes in the women’s and men’s competition respectively.

It was Pillage and Rio Olympian Joe Choong who took charge in the fencing hall, both finishing with 23 victories and seven defeats from their 30 bouts with Cooke and Toolis both three hits further back.

In the pool, Cambridge University’s Henry Choong stopped the clock in 2:01.55 to record the quickest time of the day with Cooke (2:02.48) and Pillage (2:02.54) following. That meant Pillage, Cooke and Choong – the trio who won a historic men’s team medal at last year’s world championships – occupied the top three places heading into the laser run with Toolis in fourth and Basingstoke’s Bradley Sutton fifth.

Cooke, 27, then came to the fore, recording the quickest time in the laser run to move into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish. Behind him, Pillage maintained his place in second with Toolis moving up to third and Sutton fourth as Choong dropped out of contention due to illness. That allowed Gloucester’s Jamie Harper to move up to fifth and Clitheroe’s Oliver Murray to sixth after the opening four disciplines.

There was little change in the ride with most of the leading athletes scoring well, but 20-year-old Sutton slipped a couple of places after an unfortunate refusal at the 11th fence. That meant Cooke, who these days lives in Bath, guaranteed his victory with Pillage and Toolis rounding out the podium places. Behind them, Murray finished fourth with Harper fifth and Sutton sixth. The top six finishers all train at Pentathlon GB’s National Training Centre at the University of Bath.

Hartpury College’s Jack White, Millfield School’s Will Howard, Henry Choong and the University of Bath’s Josh Miler rounded out the top 10.