Rio de Janeiro: World record-holder Alexander Lesun of Russia won the men's modern pentathlon gold medal at the Rio Olympics on Saturday.
Lesun, denied a medal in London when he was pushed out of the top three in the closing running-shooting combined phase, got off to a hot start in Rio with an Olympic record 268 points in the fencing phase on Friday.
By completion of the swimming, fencing, show jumping and running/shooting he had amassed an Olympic record total of 1,479 points.
"I just did my job," he said of keeping his nose in front after his stellar fencing effort.
Ukraine's Pavlo Tymoshchenko earned silver with 1,472 and bronze went to Mexico's Ismael Hernandez on 1,468.
Tymoshchenko, joined 2008 women's bronze medallist Viktoria Tereschuk as the only Ukrainians to earn Olympic medals in modern pentathlon.
He pushed hard until the end, emerging from the pack in the run/shoot to fall seven seconds shy of seizing the gold.
"I almost believed that I could (catch Lesun), but it depended on his shooting and running," said the Ukrainian, the 2015 world champion. "I came close I guess.
"For Ukraine and modern pentathlon it's great," he said of getting a medal.
"It's not so easy to train in Ukraine and finally I could do it in my third Olympic Games."
Hernandez's bronze was a breakthrough medal for Mexico, and he fought fiercely over the final few meters of the run to claim it ahead of France's Valentin Prades.
"My entire life has passed in front of my eyes," he said.
"Those times I have failed, the victories I had -- everything that I went through along these years to not let this chance go away."