Freyja Prentice is one of life's phlegmatic individuals, but even she was left perplexed by the absence of any females among the 10-strong roll of candidates who will challenge for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year prize later this month.

"I was shocked, very shocked, when I saw the list, because there are any number of British women who have done brilliantly in different events this year, and it was surprising that none of them were included," said the 21 year-old Scot, who has blazed her own honour-laden trail in the realm of modern pentathalon. "But there again, you couldn't look at any of the guys and argue they didn't deserve to be in the reckoning, so there is no point complaining about the situation. We just have to go out at the Olympics and make sure we aren't omitted next time."

The looming quadrennial festival has clearly captured her imagination and driven her into embarking on the sort of gruelling training regime which testifies to her redoubtable character and fierce competitive instincts. Even as an infant, her mother was advised to buy a crash helmet for the relentlessly hyperactive two-year-old, and once Prentice had taken up horse riding, the wheels were set in motion for her to excel in the equestrian stakes and search for fresh challenges. "I loved being on a horse, and I was always running here, there and everywhere, then, when I was 13, a fencing teacher came to our school and I enjoyed doing that as well, and it gradually dawned on me that I was three-fifths of the way to being able to compete in the pentathlon," said Prentice, who has just returned from the World Junior Championship in Argentina, where she snaffled a brace of team gold medals and individual bronze.

"It wasn't the conventional way to get into the sport. The majority of the girls start off in the pool or on the athletics track, and I realise that my swimming isn't my best event and I am playing catch-up there, but you have to work to your strengths and there are lots of points up for grabs in shooting and fencing, so I'm always confident that I will do well in these events. Britain has a tradition of producing talented pentathletes, and, of course there is an extra degree of excitement within our squad, because we know the Olympics are only a few months away and the countdown has begun. I have already achieved the Olympic qualifying mark [to date, she is the only Briton to have done so], but these Games mean so much to everybody that I am taking absolutely nothing for granted."

Some of her coaches and contemporaries have nicknamed her "Fridge", which Prentice claims could either be a reference to her sangfroid under pressure or her enthusiasm for packing in the calories when she isn't in the thick of championship action. Others have bestowed on her the sobriquet of "Pies" – apparently because Freyja Prentice sounds like Fray Bentos – but that is where this women's similarity to so many of her compatriots starts and finishes. For much of the last two years, she has combined a full-time sporting career with studying for a biology degree, and willingly admits she wouldn't have been able to commit herself to both without the assistance of the staff at Bath University.

"I am part-time this year, and I only have about four lectures a week, but it has been gruelling fitting everything in," said Prentice, who was one of the guests at a special event, organised by the National Lottery. "Still, you don't complain when there is the chance to be involved in something like the Olympics, do you?"

Considering that she has just advanced to the senior ranks – and secured a bronze at the World Cup in Italy in April – it would be easy for Prentice to maintain she was aiming for a top-20 result, and building for the future, rather than specifically chasing a podium place in 2012. But she has no truck with the notion of participating simply to make up the numbers; indeed, she positively bristled at the suggestion.

"Any British women who are involved at the Olympics are there because they believe they can win medals. We will have the whole country cheering us on and we have to be ready to be the best."