Britain's world champion James Cooke safely qualified today for Saturday's men's final at the UIPM World Cup in Sofia ©Getty Images

Britain’s James Cooke and Jung Jin-hwa of South Korea, respective 2018 and 2017 world champions, qualified safely today for Saturday’s men’s individual final at the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) World Cup in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

Cooke finished 10th of the 36 qualifiers who emerged from a field of 95 athletes, clocking 1,122 points, with the South Korean progressing in 18th place with 1,119.

Jung’s compatriot Jun Woong-tae, the world number one, also looked in ominously good form as he shared second place on the day with two other athletes on 1127 – Lukasz Gutkowski of Poland and Britain’s Thomas Toolis.

Top man on the day was Chile’s Esteban Bustos, with 1,128.

Competition continues tomorrow with the women’s individual final.