Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray produced a fine all-round display to win her first British Modern Pentathlon Championships crown in Solihull yesterday.
And the overall men's title went to teenager Joe Choong who, at the end of a long day of competition, just edged out Jamie Cooke in a sprint finish.
Choong and Murray have now secured places on the British team to compete at the European Championships in Poland in July.
Murray, ranked three in the world, won bronze at last year's World Championships and silver at London 2012 but hadn't yet won a senior British Championships.
The 23-year-old did it in style in a high-class field that also featured Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medallist Heather Fell and reigning world champion Mhairi Spence.
"I had a fantastic day," said University of Bath French and Politics student Murray. "I was relaxed coming here and I wanted to win to secure my place at the European Championships.
"I felt strong and my running has improved since the World Cup in Rio last month, when I finished fifth."
After an impressive day, Murray shot and ran strongly at the Tudor Grange Leisure Centre to finish 20 seconds clear of 17-year-old Eilidh Prise.
It meant Murray captured the senior and overall titles, with Aberdeen teenager Prise - a member of Pentathlon GB's World Class Podium Potential programme - impressing with the fastest run/shoot time of the day en route to the junior title.
Murray started the day well with the second best performance in the fencing, winning 33 of her 42 bouts. That was only bettered by Jenny McGeever, with 35 wins.
Kate French and Katy Burke were joint third with 30 wins, with Prise fifth, Spence and Freyja Prentice joint seventh and Fell 11th.
Murray climbed to the top of the leaderboard in the swim, and from there she never looked back. Her 200m freestyle time of 2mins 9.96secs was the second fastest of the day.
Burke moved up to second with 2:11.78, the third fastest time of the day, with McGeever third and French fourth. Alice Fitton clocked the fastest time in the pool, 2:08.42, to go joint fifth with Prise.
Murray extended her lead in the ride. She had one fence down and also sustained some time penalties but added 1,120 of the maximum possible 1,200 to her score.
That meant she went into the run/shoot 92 points and 23 seconds clear of Burke, who added 1,112 points to her score in the ride.
Prise and Spence were the only two riders to go clear in the allowed time to bag the maximum 1,200 points in the arena at Solihull Riding Club. That was enough to promote them from sixth and seventh respectively overall to third and fourth.
Murray shot and ran well to make sure of the title, although Prise's 12:28.06 run/shoot was six seconds quicker than that of the London 2012 medallist.
French came home third, with Burke fourth and Fell producing a battling end to her campaign, scything her way through the field from 14th to fifth. Spence finished seventh.
The men's competition ended in a thrilling climax with five athletes in with a shout in the run/shoot. In the end it all came down to a sprint finish, with 17-year-old Choong edging out Cooke, Britain's 2011 world junior champion.
Joe Evans, bronze medallist on his World Cup debut in California in February, came home third, with double Olympian Sam Weale fourth and Tom Toolis fifth.
It meant Choong, a student at Whitgift School in Croydon, took the overall and junior titles, with Cooke securing the senior title.
"I'm pleased, I like a sprint finish," said Choong. "I was a bit lucky today because I got a really nice horse, and riding is my weakest event."
Weale made the best start, winning 24 of his fencing bouts to take 1,084 pentathlon points. Sam Curry's 21 wins put him second, with Toolis third, and Evans and Choong sharing fourth.
Weale's 2:04.39 was the sixth fastest men's 200m freestyle time but was enough to keep him in the lead. Not surprisingly, Cooke went quickest in the pool with a time of 1:55.30, pushing him up from sixth to fifth overall. Evans' 1:57.04 was second fastest, keeping him second overall with Chong third overall and Toolis fourth.
But it was Choong that topped the leaderboard after the ride. None of the men went clear in the allowed time but Choong's 1,156 points was the third best performance in the riding area and meant he went into run/shoot in pole position, 60 points and 15 seconds clear of Cooke in second. Cooke had also fared well in the ride, with 1,128 points.
Toolis was just four points and a second further back at the start, with Evans another four seconds back in fourth. Weale added 976 points to his score in the ride and started the run/shoot in fifth, 32 seconds behind Choong.
The run/shoot turned into a terrific battle with five athletes in contention but it was Choong and Cooke that battled it out on the last running leg.
They both produced determined finishes as they battled for the line in a sprint finish but it was the 17-year-old that edged it by a fraction. He took the overall and junior titles, with Cooke getting the consolation of the senior crown.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: "It was very competitive today. It shows it was a good idea to get the juniors and seniors in the mix in open competition.
"The decision for the winner to compete at the European Championships also gave the competition a tension and some extra competitiveness.
"Samantha looked very good today and Eilidh helped to keep her on her toes," he added.
Overall British Champions
Women: Samantha Murray.
Men: Joe Choong.
Women – senior
Gold: Samantha Murray – 5,428pts.
Silver: Kate French – 5,092.
Bronze: Katy Burke – 5,076.
Women – junior
Gold: Eilidh Prise – 5,348.
Silver: Jo Muir – 4,908.
Bronze: Kerry Prise – 4,660.
Men – senior
Gold: Jamie Cooke – 5,744.
Silver: Sam Weale – 5,612.
Bronze: James Myatt – 5,388.
Men – junior
Gold: Joe Choong – 5,744.
Silver: Joe Evans – 5,656.
Bronze: Tom Toolis – 5,532.
Full results are available on the Pentathlon GB website at www.pentathlongb.org/competitions/results.php
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.