By Tom Degun

Aleksander LesunFebruary 22 - Russia's reigning world champion Aleksander Lesun has won the first gold medal of 2013 as he took victory in the in the Modern Pentathlon World Cup in Palm Springs.


The 24-year-old Belarusian-born athlete dominated the final run/shoot combine event to cruise to an easy win as London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Adam Marosi of Hungry took the silver medal and Britain's teenager Joseph Evans claimed the bronze, in the first major modern pentathlon event since the sport avoided being dropped from the list of core Olympic sports.

"I have had better results but this was a good performance," said Lesun following the win.

Lesun, currently ranked as the world number one, started the day in vintage form, finishing fourth in the fencing before a respectable 14th place in the swim and then a superb third place in the ride.

Amro El Geziry of Egypt was first off in the final run/shoot combine event with Britain's Evans, a 19-year-old student at the University of Bath making his debut at this level, only five seconds behind and Lesun one second behind Evans.

Marosi started out in fifth place, 25 seconds behind El Geziry, but powered his way up over the four circuits though still crossing the finish line just under 10 seconds behind Lesun for the silver.

The UIPM World Cup Series now heads down to Rio de Janeiro for the second event in the series, which is due to take place on March 20.

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