Georgina Harland faces one of the toughest challenges of her modern pentathlon career today when she starts her bid for a world championship medal in Budapest.

The 30-year-old from Waltham near Canterbury arrived home from Athens clutching a Olympic bronze medal four years ago but the next three days in Hungary will confirm whether she will get a chance to win another medal in Beijing. A medal this week will be enough to book her place in Beijing but it won’t be easy with her three Great Britain team-mates Heather Fell, Katy Livingstone and Mhairi Spence all chasing the same prize. Livingston and Fell have already achieved the Olympic qualifying standard, courtesy of top eight finishes, while Harland’s form has steadily improved, with a sixth place in the last World Cup event at Kladno in the Czech Republic.

However, she has always vowed not to look too far ahead, refusing to speculate on retirement, and the future.

She said: “If I go to Beijing it won’t be just to compete, I want another medal.”

Harland lines up in the semi-finals today, with the final taking place on Saturday. The team for Beijing is due to be announced in the middle of next month.