OLYMPIC hopeful Jamie Cooke has capped a phenomenal year by being named GB Modern Pentathlete of the Year by the British Olympic Association.

Cooke, 20, a former pupil of Balcarras School in Cheltenham, received the award yesterday after a season that has seen him achieve the qualifying standard for London 2012 and win the World Junior Championships in Argentina.

Cooke is currently second in the junior world ranking and 14th in the senior rankings.

He has also established himself as the fastest swimmer on the senior circuit, breaking modern pentathlon 200m freestyle world records in three successive swims in the summer.

Cooke's name is now on a list of top-performing athletes who have been named top in their sport by the BOA.

Other names on the list include Newent equestrian competitor Carl Hester, athlete Mo Farah, tennis player Andy Murray and cycling's Geraint Thomas.

Cooke, who now trains at the Pentathlon GB high performance centre at the University of Bath, said: "I'm really pleased to receive this award, but it could have gone to so many of the athletes in the British pentathlon team.

"Mhairi Spence and Heather Fell won World Cup medals this year, Nick Woodbridge won a World Cup Final medal and Freyja Prentice won medals at both the World and European Junior Championships.

"We've had some really good results this year and that bodes well in the run-up to the Games."

Cooke, who is originally from Cheltenham and whose parents live in Shipton Oliffe, combines training with studying for a degree in business administration and geography at Bath Spa University. He started 2011 outside the top-50 in the senior world rankings.

Cooke became the first British pentathlete to achieve the London 2012 qualifying stared when he finished fourth at the senior European Championships at Medway in Kent in July. He is not guaranteed a place on the team as there is strong competition for places.

A maximum of two modern pentathletes per gender per nation can compete at the 2012 Olympics.

Cooke will faces a busy 2012, with World Cups in the United States, Brazil and Hungary in March and April, the world championships in Italy in May, and potentially the world cup final in China in May.

The men's modern pentathlon competition at the Olympics is due to be held on August 11.