Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallist Heather Fell leads the British challenge at the Modern Pentathlon World Championships, which take place at Crystal Palace next month.

Fell is a member of the six-strong Great Britain team for the for the championships from August 13-17. Two further men will be added to the team at a later date.

Last weekend Fell won the individual silver medal at the European Championships as well as the team gold with Katy Livingston and Mhairi Spence, who also feature in the team for Crystal Palace.

The women’s team also includes 18-year-old Freyja Prentice, who finished 10th on her World Cup debut in Mexico City in March.

She is currently with the British team preparing to compete at the World Junior Championships, which get underway in Chinese Taipei today (Monday).

Beijing 2008 Olympians Sam Weale and Nick Woodbridge lead the men’s challenge.

Two further athletes will be added to the men’s team nearer to the championships.

Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB performance director, said: “The World Championships are the pinnacle of the year, particularly for us as we will be at home.

“We exceeded our expectations at the European Championships. "There will definitely be teams that are stronger than us, but that will inspire us.

“Being at home means a medal is expected of us. We are definitely contenders in both genders and the ladies’ team will go to Crystal Palace as European Champions.”

The British team for the 2009 World Championships is:

Heather Fell

Mhairi Spence

Freyja Prentice

Katy Livingston

Sam Weale

Nick Woodbridge

The 2009 World Championships will be the first to feature the new combined run/shoot format, which replaced the individual pentathlon disciplines of shooting and running – a significant change to the sport – at the start of the year.

They will also be the first World Championships to be held in London in an Olympic sport in since 1986.

The World Championships are being supported by UK Sport's World Class Events Programme and will provide British athletes with experience of international competition on home soil ahead of 2012, as well as an opportunity to train and qualify some of the volunteers and officials that will be involved in the modern pentathlon at the London 2012 Olympics.

The programme for the championships is:

Thursday 13th August: men's qualifiers

Friday 14th August: women's qualifiers

Saturday 15th August: men's final, including team event (also, boys'

invitational schools biathlon)

Sunday 16th August: women's final, including team event (also, girls'

invitational schools biathlon)

Monday 17th August: men's and women's team relays

It's the sixth time Great Britain has hosted the Modern Pentathlon World Championships.

The last occasion was at Millfield in Somerset in 2001, when Britain's women collected four medals.

Steph Cook won the individual gold with Georgina Harland taking bronze. Cook, Allenby and Sian Lewis combined to win team gold with Cook, Allenby and Harland winning team relay gold.

For ticketing information for the World Championships please go to: http://www.pentathlongb.org/mpwc/spectators.php