French, 23, and Evans, who turned 21 on Friday, arrived at the combined run/shoot event with an 18-second lead after outstanding performances in the fencing, swimming and riding sections.

But by the time she handed over after two of the four scheduled shoots and 800-metre loops, the 30-year-old Asadauskaite had narrowed the gap, and Kinderis, three years her junior, ran side-by-side with the Briton through their first 800m before making his decisive move in the fourth and final shoot, then carrying a lead into the final 800m loop which Evans was unable to reverse.

Bronze went to the home pairing of Oktawia Nowacka and Szymon Staskiewicz.

Hosts Poland came away with bronze in the mixed relay event ©UIPM



For Britain, who had won individual gold, through Samantha Murray, and team silver two days earlier, it concluded a highly promising competition en route to the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Pentathlon GB performance director Jan Bartu said: "They did a fantastic job today and it was an absolutely invaluable experience for both of them.

"I was delighted for them both.

"When you're going head to head against an Olympic champion and a former world champion, people who have medalled so many times you can't remember them all, it brings a different dynamic into play.

"This is a fantastic step on the path to Rio," he added.

"It's important for the athletes and coaches to understand where we are and what we're capable of.

"These championships have given us the hope that we're heading in the direction."

French, aged 23, who was also a team silver medallist along with Freyja Prentice, said: "It has been an amazing day.

"We had a good day all round and we're really pleased."

Silver medallists Kate French and Joe Evans were pleased with their day's work ©UIPM


Evans commented: "It was a brilliant race with Kinderis at the end, I really enjoyed it.

"I was a bit disappointed with my fourth shoot, but I was really pleased with my performances today.

"We've got a really strong team," he added.

"It's fantastic to be training in Bath with everyone else and hopefully we can bring more results through in the future."

French and Evans started well, winning 27 and losing 11 of their fencing contests, a performance that was only bettered by one win by Asadauskaite and Kinderis. 

It meant the British pairing netted 250 fencing points, trailing the Lithuanians by six points.

Evans produced a terrific swim in the second leg of the 2x100m freestyle to push the Pentathlon GB pair to the top of the leaderboard. 

The pair's time of 1 min 54.56sec was the third fastest of the day behind Hungary and France, and was worth 357 pentathlon points.

The British team went into the ride with 607 points and a slender four-point advantage over Lithuania.

Kinderis had two fences down in the riding arena and Asadauskaite went clear, which meant the Lithuanian team dropped 14 points from the maximum 300.

French and Evans both went clear to take the full 300 points, so they went into the combined event with an 18-second lead over the Lithuanians, but it was to prove insufficient to hold off  two of the sport's most illustrious performers.

The British pair clocked a combined event time of 11:32.98 to make sure of their silver medal and came home just three seconds behind the gold medallists, who scored 1,518 to their 1,515 points. Poland's pair totalled 1,504.

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