Joe Choong won gold in the men’s modern pentathlon to seal an Olympic double for Great Britain after Kate French triumphed in the women’s event.
The 26-year-old kept his composure in the final laser run in Tokyo to become the first British man to triumph.
He sprinted to the finish ahead of Ahmed Elgendy of Egypt who burst through from 13th to take silver.
“I’ve always said I wanted to be the best in the world. This is literally a dream come true,” Choong said.
“I pulled myself together and this time I’ve nailed it.”
The Briton got off to a flying start, finishing joint top in the fencing round and third in the 200m freestyle swim.
The 2019 world champion then won the bonus fencing round and going into the fourth event, equestrian, Choong was the leader, 19 points clear of South Korea’s Jung Jin-hwa.
He drew Clntino, the horse French had ridden on Friday on her way to Olympic gold, and although he had 14 faults, it was enough to secure a 12-second lead over Jung going into the concluding laser run event, a 3,200-metre run punctuated by four shooting stages.
Jung and compatriot Jun Woong-tae closed the gap to eight seconds after the first lap as Choong struggled on his first shoot, but it was Elgendy who was to prove the real threat to gold.
The Egyptian momentarily overtook Choong with the final 800-metre lap to go but Choong, who said afterwards he had paced himself on the run in case his lead came under threat, still had plenty in the tank – pulling clear in the final 200 metres to cross the line first.
After a 10th-place finish at Rio 2016, Choong becomes the first British man to win individual modern pentathlete gold at the Olympic Games.
