WARSAW 2014 - Lithuania is gold in the Mixed-Relay

A thrilling final day of action at the Modern Pentathlon World Championships in Warsaw saw Lithuania crowned Mixed Team Relay Gold medallists.

Laura Asadauskaite and Justinas Kinderis (LTU) brought the curtain down on an exhilarating seven days of competition in Poland after one of the closest fought events of the week.

They were involved in a tight three horse race with Great Britain and Poland for the entire Mixed Team Relay event, leaving it until the closing moments of the Combined Event to secure top spot on the podium.

A jubilant Justinas Kinderis said: "It was a big pleasure to be here in Warsaw and we are really happy to start our holidays with such a big win as we are now the World Champions. We hope when next season starts we can start off with more big wins.

"We would like to thank everybody for the part they played at the Championships from volunteers to the Organising Committee and the fans who turned out to watch. It has been wonderful."

Lithuanian's Asadauskaite and Kinderis (LTU) were the early leaders taking first place in the Fencing, winning an impressive 28 bouts between them.

The British pairing of Kate French and Joseph Evans (GBR) were just one win behind them heading into the pool while the host country's representatives Oktawia Nowacka and Szymon Staśkiewicz (POL) were third.

Hungarian's Sarolta Kovacs and Bence Demeter (HUN) recorded the fastest time in the Swimming of 1:52.08 which was 2.21 seconds faster that second placed Elodie Clouvel and Valentin Belaud (FRA) with French and Evans (GBR) in third.

 That result saw the Brits go into first place, overtaking the Lithuanians Asadauskaite and Kinderis (LTU) who dropped to second after finishing ninth in the Swimming.

The Polish duo of Nowacka and Staskiewicz (POL) remained third overall despite finishing down in eighth place.

There was no change to the top three positions on the leaderboard after the Riding event.

Five pairings, including leaders French and Evans (GBR) achieved the maximum result of 300 points.

Despite two knockdowns which saw them finish tenth in the Riding, Lithuanian's Asadauskaite and Kinderis (LTU) remained in second with the Polish duo of Nowacka and Staskiewicz (POL) holding on to third after finishing sixth.

Brits French and Evans (GBR) had an 18 second head start in the Combined Event over their Lithuanian rivals, but they were under pressure from the off.

Asadauskaite (LTU) was breathing down French's (GBR) neck for their entire leg, but it wasn't until the changeover that the Lithuanian's were back in front with Kinderis (LTU) catching Evans (GBR) at the first Shooting station and overtaking him after the last shooting.

Kinderis (LTU) maintained his lead to bring Lithuania home in first place in the overall standings pushing the Brits into second place and a silver medal.

The fight for bronze between Poland and Russia was intriguing, but Poland Team maintained the third place on the podium.

UIPM President Dr Klaus Schormann said it was the perfect end to a wonderful World Championships: "Congratulation to the winners, this was a great day for all the athletes and everyone involved. The competition on view today underlines how exciting the Mixed Relay is in our sport of Modern pentathlon and we hope to see it in the Olympics in 2020.

"Thank you to all of the athletes and to the Organising Committee who has put on a wonderful competition for us here in Warsaw."