Jamie Cooke claims World Championships gold after stunning finish

British modern pentathlete Jamie Cooke has won World Championships gold with a stunning sprint finish in Mexico City.

Cooke, 27, was in third place after the final laser shoot stage, but powered past eventual bronze medallist Pavlo Tymoshchenko of Ukraine before denying Frenchman Valentin Prades on the line.

"It's a dream come true," he said. "I've worked so hard for this.

"I was really struggling on that last lap and unfortunately my grandad died last week so that was for him."

Rio Olympian Cooke was in seventh place after the swimming, fencing and show jumping phases, just ahead of team-mate Joe Choog.

Cooke struggled in the early stages of the final run-shoot combined phase, but battled back into contention before the dramatic end to the race where he overtook Prades who had already begun celebrating in the closing stages of the race.

"My first shoot was terrible and I had to redeem myself after that. I just dug in because you never know what can happen and I just found something in my legs during the last 100m."

Britain's European bronze Joe Choong finished ninth and Myles Pillage 34th with their combined scores securing the British men world team silver medals on the final day of competition in Mexico.

Cooke is the first British man to win the modern pentathlon world title for 25 years and only the second British male to claim the honour in the history of the sport. Richard Phelps being the only other GB man to win World gold - with his success coming in Darmstadt, Germany in 1993.

All of the other recent title-winning-performances have been delivered by GB women with Samantha Murray taking World gold in 2014 and Mhairi Spence winning the event in 2012.

The other British winners are Stephanie Cook in 2001 and Wendy Norman in 1982.