Shropshire Olympian starts on the road to Rio
Shropshire Olympian Nick Woodbridge will get his Modern Pentathlon World Cup series campaign underway in Brazil.
Fellow county athlete Joe Evans also goes into tomorrow looking to build on his bronze medal-winning debut in the competition last month.
Telford's Woodbridge, a veteran of both the London and Beijing Olympic games, will take part in his first world cup event of the season.
Meanwhile Evans, from Whitchurch, will be aiming to add to a triumphant World Cup debut in Palm Springs, United States.
It saw him finish just eight seconds behind Russian world champion and world No 1 Alexander Lesun, who took gold.
Woodbridge, 26, and Evans, 19, will be among an eight-strong party which will be representing Great Britain in Rio De Janeiro.
The men's semi-final will get underway on Thursday while the women's semi-final started today.
Should Evans or Woodbridge make the final they will go for glory on Saturday with the women's final on Friday and the mixed relay taking place on Sunday.
The event is the second of four World Cup series events which will help athletes earn points towards qualifying for the final in Russia later this year.
The Brazilian event will be followed by another in China from April 17-21 and Hungary from May 8-12.
The competition in Rio will also be the latest step in team GB's preparations for the 2013 World Championships in Chinese Taipei in August and the build-up to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
Jamie Cook, from Cheltenham, and Sam Curry, from Redhill, will complete the men's line-up.
Katy Burke, Cleveleys, near Blackpool, Kate French, from Gravesend, Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray, from Clitheroe, Lancashire and world champion Mhairi Spence, from Farr, near Inverness, will represent the nation in the women's competition.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: "There is a long way to, but the whole process is aimed towards Rio.
"This is an opportunity to see where their potential strengths and gaps are at the moment. It's also a priceless for the team to check out the travel, transition, acclimatisation, culture and food in Rio."
