Sam Weale finished 10th overall with 5412 points in the Beijing Olympics

Great Britain's Sam Weale clinched gold in the Bath International pentathlon after a fine performance in the last event carried him past Ondrej Polivka.

Weale stalked down his Czech rival on the second 1km run of the new run/shoot event after starting in second place.

A strong final run brought him home 20 seconds clear of Polivka on a total of 6044 points - a winning margin of 80.

Fellow Briton Nick Woodbridge fell short of the podium as he dropped to eighth in the closing stages.

Weale said: "I'm delighted to have won. It's the first time I've been on the podium since the Millfield World Cup a year ago .

606: DEBATE How much more is there to come from Weale in 2009?

"I had a good start today in the fencing. That's particularly important now it's the first discipline. Then I had a solid swim and ride."

Weale adapted well to the combined event, missing only one shot in his first group of shooting and established an eight-second lead going into the final set.

His time of 11 minutes 29.95 seconds was the fastest in the field.

Germany's Sascha Vetter finished third with 5912 points, while world championship bronze medallist Robert Nemeth finished 13th.

Earlier in the day both Weale and Woodbridge put in good displays in the fencing, winning 22 and 18 of their 31 contests respectively.

The pair stayed within touch of Polivka through the swim and ride before Weale clawed back the leader's 13-second lead over the final activity.

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