Francesca Summers, modern pentathlete and Sky Scholar, set for Epee World Cup in Tallinn
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 20/10/17 11:01am
Competing professionally in an extraordinary sport covering five very different events can be challenging for a fashion design student in Paris with a keen eye on what she wears.
Luckily for new Sky Sports Scholar and modern pentathlete Francesca Summers, her wardrobe this week only requires fencing gear for her first action of the season as the World Cup continues with the women's epee competition in Tallinn, Estonia.
The 21-year-old from Dorking, in her last year of university in France, uses fencing events as training for modern pentathlon which also involves 200m freestyle swimming, show jumping and a combined discipline of pistol shooting and a 3.2K cross-country run.
"It's quite hard to study and train and fit everything in, but it keeps me busy," Summers said.
"Fashion design and modern pentathlon are both my passions though and it's nice having a break. In the future, I would like to combine the two and come up with my own brand in sport.
"I do sometimes get hold of my GB kit and think 'why do girls have to wear man shorts?' For London 2012, Stella McCartney designed the outfits and I didn't agree with some of the stuff she did! Most of the kits are fine, but I would do it a lot differently!"
Wardrobes aside, it has been a challenging summer for the athlete who won silver at the 2014 Youth Olympics in China in 2014 and crowned World U21 champion aged 19 in Mexico City in 2015.
After a tough altitude training camp in the Pyrenees followed by the Cairo World Championships in August, she suffered extreme fatigue and low iron levels and she has experimented with ways to combat this.
Becoming a Sky Sports Scholar has been a huge lift, rest has helped during the off-season and she's started fencing with a world-class coach having moved back to Paris for her studies.
With overall modern pentathlon scoring now bias towards fencing and times in the swimming pool less important, improving your sword skills is crucial. Summers cannot wait to get back onto the piste.
"This year I'm just focusing on my fencing," added Summers. "I'm loving it because it's my favourite. My best disciplines are the technical ones - fencing, shooting and riding. I have small hands so swimming doesn't work in my favour!
"I started fencing aged 12 and my dad who's in the marines said at the time: 'I don't want my girls stabbing anyone!'
"It can look bizarre from the sidelines but when I do it I love it. There's someone with a sword who's trying to hit you and you have to defend yourself and you're also trying to hit them. (In epee, being hit anywhere on your body counts)
"You wear all this armour but it can be painful when you get hit. When I train with the boys they can really hurt. The most painful place is behind the part of the arm that bends or the ankle where you don't have any protection."
In a modern pentathlon final, there are 36 competitors and you have one minute to get the hit. One hit means eight seconds and your opponent loses that so it all adds up.
In Tallinn this week there will be 200 fighters put into pools of six or seven and you fence everyone. If you win at least three or four then you're through to knock-out. Anything less and it's home time.
Summers said: "I will be fighting the best in the world and I will be the only modern pentathlete there. It will be tough.
"It's just one hit and if you do something silly you can't let it affect you. If you lose concentration you can easily lose five fights in a row.
"Calmness is everything. Sometimes the referee thinks your opponent hit you when they only hit the floor and that makes you want to argue and can make you very angry but you have to let it go.
"I am a pretty calm fighter though! The last 10 seconds can be fun when you're really pushing for that hit. It's such an amazing feeling if you get it at the end.
"I am quite small compared to everyone else in competition and most of the time they are above me, trying to empower me and I get pushed back on the piste. I'll then try to hit their foot and then they'll get angry!"
The Tokyo Olympics in 2020 is the long-term target and with the modern pentathlon season not starting until January and GB selection two months later, all focus is on the epee blade.
"Until next year I see myself as a fencer," Summers said. "I view the fencing competitions as pentathlon training but I obviously want to do the best I can.
"Fencing is my favourite so I'd like to win three in the initial pool this weekend and see where it takes me. It's all down to the group. There's usually one or two really strong fighters and the rest are quite even.
"I'll just go into the fights practising my strategies. It's my first of the campaign and my results will hopefully get better as the season goes on."
Her fencing rivals had better be warned though and not because of a newly-designed spangled outfit for the piste.
"Before my fights, I have a new thing," Summers said. "Because of my tiredness, I've found myself falling asleep and I've needed ways to 'get myself up'.
"I now do this jumpy thing with one leg forward and one back. I wave my arms and get my blood pumping, I bang my chest and tell myself 'let's do this'."
