Demeter, who has never won an individual World Championship pentathlon medal, scored 23 wins from 35 bouts in the fencing ranking round to lead the field after the semi-final stage at the University of Bath.

Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champion Joseph Choong of Britain, who placed ninth in his semi-final, was at one point of missing out on reaching the final, but advanced by a second at the expense of Patrick Dogue of Germany.

In men’s semi-final A Martin Vlach of the Czech Republic, who posted the fastest time in the laser run of 9min 56.80sec, crossed the line at the same time as Mexico’s Emiliano Hernandez, as both athletes finished with a points total of 1,203.

Behind them four competitors finished with a daily high score of 1,202 - home athlete Charles Brown of Britain, Tokyo 2020 Olympics silver medallist Ahmed Elgendy, China’s Linbin Zhang and fellow Egyptian Mohanad Shaban.

Meanwhile semi-final B was won by Mohamed Elgendy, brother of Ahmed, with a daily score of 1,211.

Behind Elgendy are two South Korean competitors - Woongtae Jun and Jihun Lee, who finished a single second behind Elgendy with a daily score of 1,210 points.

A total of 18 athletes are set to contest the men’s final tomorrow, which along with the women’s, is offering up to three places at next year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games.