IT's been a big weekend of top-level sport, both in this country and abroad.

It was brilliant to see fellow Devonian and 'Team Gregory' teammate Liam Tancock retaining his world title in the 50m backstroke out in Shanghai. There were also the great results from the Hungarian Grand Prix and then closer to home we had the athletic world trials, the ongoing test match and of course the Modern Pentathlon European Championships, all held in the UK. Unfortunately the latter event was not as successful as was hoped, particularly my performance.

This was the first opportunity to qualify for the Olympics; fellow Brit Freyja Prentice took full advantage, finishing just inside the top eight. This leaves five of us fighting for the one remaining slot! It is back to the drawing board for me, I have a few days of enforced rest before returning to training for the world championships in September.

Last week was certainly media crazy for me and I think for most athletes competing in Olympic sports; it was impossible not to notice that it was 'one year to go' last Wednesday — having media engagements everyday last week was rather exciting. I even managed a trip to Manchester for the filming of a certain BBC sport programme. However it was thanks to Princess Ann that we had more coverage in the nationals on Friday. A teammate and I had the pleasure of demonstrating the new laser technology used for pentathlon shooting; a picture of the Princess holding a gun was too much for the press to resist.

And there will be no late nights or lie ins for me this week. I have been given the exciting opportunity of presenting my first ever radio programme, the 'early show' on BBC Radio Devon, so any early birds out there do tune in!