WARSAW 2014 - Murray is the new Women's World Champion and China take team gold in team event

After winning bronze at the 2012 World Championships in Rome, then silver in the London Olympic Games the same year, Samantha Murray (Great Britain) continued her meteoric rise by winning gold in the Women's Individual event at the Warsaw 2014 Modern Pentathlon World Championships today.

Murray, 24, is the fourth British woman to have been individual world champion and after the victory by Mhairi Spence in 2012, this second triumph in three years demonstrates the depth of talent that exists in the country.

Another nation that boasts very deep reserves of female talent is China, which won Gold in the Women's Team event today to complement the Individual medals won by Qian Chen (Silver) and Liang Wanxia (Bronze). Wang Wei was the third member of the champion team.

Qian, 27, and Liang, 23, now have three medals each from Warsaw 2014, having claimed Gold when competing together in the Women's Relay earlier in the week.

Riding on the wave of Murray's Individual Gold, Great Britain (Murray, Kate French, Freyja Prentice) also collected Silver in the Team event today, where Bronze went to Belarus (Katsiaryna Arol, Tatsiana Yelizarova, Anastasiya Prokopenko), narrowly ahead of Italy.

Speaking at the official Press Conference after claiming her Gold and Silver medals, Murray (GBR) said: "I would like to start by thanking UIPM and the organisers of the competition here in Poland, where the facilities were really good. Obviously I liked the swimming pool!

"It has been a real pleasure to compete here. I'm always happy to compete in Europe because it's close to home, same time zone, and I would like to say thank you for everyone who has made this a special competition."

Individual Silver medallist Chen (CHN) said: "I really want to thank our coaches and leaders. This was our third medal and it might look easy, but it's actually very difficult."

Bronze medallist Liang (CHN) added: "This is very special for me - I never thought that I could get third place. In the last few days we have had very good organisation and preparation, and I know I can improve myself in the future."

The highlight of today's champion performance by Murray (GBR) was undoubtedly her Swimming, where she set a new Modern Pentathlon world record in the short-course (25m) pool.

Murray swam 2min 03.84sec, a performance that allowed her to take the place of Sarolta Kovacs (Hungary) in the record books. However, Kovacs was second-fastest in the pool and this performance gave her the overall lead, a position she would hold until the final event of a thrilling day of Modern Pentathlon.

The first athlete to make a claim for Women's Individual Gold was Donata Rimsaite (Russia), who was the last woman standing on the Fencing piste after recording 25 wins.

Chen (CHN) was 4th in Fencing and 12th in Swimming, allowing her to stay in contention, but Kovacs (HUN) remained in gold-medal position after a Riding event where she was one of 9 athletes to record the maximum score of 300.

Rimsaite (RUS) also had a perfect round on her horse, and was in 2nd position overall heading into the Combined Event, with Murray (GBR) lurking in 3rd.

Kovacs (HUN) started the Run/Shoot with an advantage of 11 seconds over Rimsaite (RUS) and 16 on Murray (GBR), but the Olympic silver-medallist quickly overcame her handicap, and on the second lap she overtook Kovacs to claim an initiative that she refused to relinquish.

In the end, Chen (CHN) pushed her close, and Liang (CHN) overtook Lena Schoneborn (Germany) on the final Shooting range to claim a place on the podium, but Murray (GBR) was the one who stood on top of it when the medals were handed out.

Special mention should also go to Laura Asadauskaite (Lithuania), the 2012 Olympic champion, who produced a brilliant Combined Event to move all the way from 18th position overall to 5th.

Dr Klaus Schormann, President of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne, said at the Press Conference: "It has been a very exciting day, right from the start with the Fencing and through the Swimming and Riding to the Combined Event, which we changed to produce much more exciting moments for the spectators and also the athletes.

"I would like to say thanks to the athletes for their excellent performances today, and not to forget the organisers, everybody who worked to make this a great day of Pentathlon."