HOPES were high for Mount Kelly and Tavistock Athletic Club biathlete Matilda Purnell to retain this year her national title of British Modern Biathlon champion in the under 12 girls’ category. 

Matilda won the title last year, having earned the status of being a national champion bestowed upon her at the tender age of 10.

Matilda travelled to Nottingham’s Harvey Haden Arena for this year’s national championships.

‘It will need to be a brilliant performance if anyone is to beat this girl’, an official from Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of modern biathlon was quoted to say of Matilda — and unfortunately that was to be.

In an extremely tight and tough fought competition in front of a large crowd, Matilda was pipped to the post for the gold medal by a slight six point margin, which equates to half a second in the 800 metre run or 0.24 of a second in the 50 metre swim.

However, a fantastic performance a more than admirable silver medal was achieved by Matilda pushing herself all the way, smashing both her personal bests in the 800m run (eight seconds faster) and swim.