Hugo Fleming
Sport: Modern Pentathlon; Athletics (800m)
Course: Wellcome Trust 4-year PhD in Neuroscience
Ambition: Win a gold medal at the BUCS Modern Pentathlon Championships; run sub-1:50 for the 800m and make the BUCS Athletics final.
Sporting Achievements:
Modern Pentathlon: 5th place at BUCS Championships in 2018 and 9th place in 2019 (and winner of the combined run/shoot event).
Athletics: LUCA Indoor Champion 2017 and 2018 and current holder of the championship record (1:55.6). Surrey County Champion in 2018 and ranked 10th at the England Senior Championships. PB of 1:51.37 (2017).
Bio: My first experience of a national competition was aged 9, when I took part in a Schools’ Biathlon (running and swimming) organised by the Modern Pentathlon Association. They invited me onto their training programme, and I worked on learning the remaining Pentathlon events - shooting, fencing and show-jumping. Later that year I won the MPA British Triathlon Championships, and subsequently, I went on to take six more national titles as a youth athlete and represented GB internationally. Running became my favourite event of the Pentathlon and, after finishing 3rd in the 800m at the 2009 English Schools’ Championships, I began to also pursue Athletics more seriously in its own right. I love the simplicity of it, and the intensity; nothing beats the feeling of kicking off the final bend into the home straight at the end of a tough session of 400m repeats. As an undergraduate at Oxford University I continued to compete to a high level in both Athletics and Modern Pentathlon, and I am particularly proud of my BUCS placings in both sports. There is of course always room for improvement, and in my case the next targets are obvious - to progress to a Gold medal in the BUCS Pentathlon and run a sub-1:50 800m. Now I am in my third year at UCL I am very pleased with the training set-up I have established in London - in particular, with the extensive support of the Elite Team at UCL I am confident that my goals are within reach.