HEATHER Fell from Merrivale produced a battling display to secure a top-10 finish at the opening Modern Pentathlon World Cup of the year.

Fell, Britain's Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallist, was joint 27th after the fencing at World Cup 1 in Palm Springs, California, but fought her way through the field to end the day in ninth.

Team-mate Kate French came home in 19th place, with Katy Burke 21st and 18-year-old Jo Muir finishing 30th on her World Cup debut.

In the fencing Fell's 15 victories put her joint 27th with 760 points and in the 200m freestyle swim 2mins 18.23 secs, the 11th fastest swim, for 1,144 points. She climbed to 23rd. She continued her upward momentum in the riding arena, dropping only 40 points from the maximum 1,200 to climb to 18th overall before producing a strong run/shoot, clocking 12 mins 31.17 secs to climb from 18th to ninth place.

The gold was won by Victoria Tereshuk from the Ukraine on 5,400 points.