Kate French is hoping a hot bath will help her medal chances at the Modern Pentathlon World Championships this week.

Meopham’s French will be competing in temperatures approaching 40C at the championships in Cairo, which begin today (Tuesday).

The 26-year-old is a real medal prospect for Great Britain having climbed to a career-high second in the world rankings.

French has been in top form this year and is determined to meet the physical demands of competing in the Egyptian capital.

She said: "I’m looking forward to it. We’ve had a training good camp up in Font Romeu (in the French Pyrenees) and we fly out on Wednesday.

"We’re trying to sort ways out to acclimatise to the heat and we’ve been told to have hot baths.

"I’ve never competed in temperatures quite that high or humid so it’s going to be a bit of a shock. But the training camp went really well.

"I’m feeling good and I’ll see if I can back up my performances from the rest of the year and do it at the major championships."

French topped the World Cup standings this season and was seventh at the European Championships.

That all followed her fifth-placed finish at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last year.

French said: "It has been a good year so far. I’m in good shape and looking forward to competing. It’s definitely given me more confidence. Having a good swim and run helps and the main thing is the experience and confidence in fencing.

"The fencing plays such a big part in it now so it’s important to feel confident, that you can come up against them and do well."

French and her team-mates are now ready to take centre stage after cheering on their track and field counterparts at the World Championships in London.

"I loved watching the athletics," French said. "It was brilliant, exciting. I love watching people do well and I love doing well myself so I can’t wait.

"I’m always aiming to get on the podium so a medal would be amazing."

The women’s individual semi-final takes place on Friday with the final on Sunday.