The 28-year-old, a silver medallist at the 2014 World Cup Final in Sarasota, moved up from 10th position at the beginning of the combined event to finish eight seconds ahead of Hungary’s Robert Kasza, who was followed by Italian home favourite Pierpaolo Petroni.

Tymoshchenko made his way through the field as China’s Han Jiahao let his lead slip between the second and third shooting ranges.

The more experienced European athletes had Han in their sights and when he became engulfed and overtaken by the pack, it was Tymoshchenko who strode to the front.

With his upright running style, the 1.90 metres tall man from Kyiv cut an impressive figure as he moved clear in his yellow vest and never looked back.

"I am very happy," said Tymoshchenko, after winning the third event of the season. 

"I thought that Petroni would be able to run at the same speed as me, but my shooting was strong and the last series was an important moment.

“I tried to focus, and I have done it."

Behind the winner, there was a fascinating battle for silver and bronze fought out between Kasza, his compatriot Adam Marosi, and Petroni, all of whom finished within two seconds of each other.

When Kasza took advantage of the tiring legs of Petroni on the final running circuit, the locals must have feared the worst but their wishes came true when Petroni found the stamina to deny Marosi the final berth on the podium.

Marosi had started the day strongly with a haul of 24 victories in fencing, matching the top score of Spain’s Aleix Heredia Vives, and took the outright lead after the swimming, where the best 200m time of 1 min 59.27sec came from Great Britain’s Joseph Evans.

Only two competitors managed a perfect score of 300 in riding, Great Britain’s Thomas Toolis and Poland’s Szymon Staskiewicz, but Han continued his consistently excellent day with a score of 295 that saw him become the first to embark on the combined event.

The event in the Italian capital concludes on Monday (April 13) with the mixed relay, while the next Modern Pentathlon World Cup leg of the season is due to take place in the Hungarian city of Kecskemét from April 30 to May 4.

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