Spence, who started the day by winning the fencing discipline and went into the run/shoot in the lead after a strong performance in the riding arena, but was passed by Caze, the 2007 and 2008 world gold medallist and European champion, and Rimsaite, the world's second-ranked modern pentathlete. 

Caze had climbed to first place after the swim, with Hungary's Leila Gyenesei second and Spence in third place on the same points as the Hungarian.
 
But Spence produced an impressive ride to climb back into pole position.

Riding Zed, an eight-year-old bay gelding, she had just one fence down to add 1,180 points to her score, taking her total to 3384.
 
Gyenesei collected 60 penalties for knocking down three fences and also accumulated 32 time penalties to relegate her to third, while Caze had four fences down to drop to second. 
 
It meant fence went into the run/shoot with a six second lead over Caze, and with Gyenesei a further 12 seconds back. 

In the run/shoot, Spence left the range at the same time as Caze after the first shoot, with Gyenesei third.
 
Spence opened up a slight lead in the first kilometre run, but Caze was the first to leave the shooting range after the second shoot.
 
Caze held on to her lead in the penultimate run and was again first away from the shooting range, with Spence behind her.

Rimsaite produced the best run/shoot of the day to exit third from the range and overhauled Spence on the final kilometre run to take silver.

Nevertheless 24-year-old Spence (pictured) was delighted with the first World Cup medal of her career and  the first individual medal won in the event by a Briton since the introduction of the new climax to the modern pentathlon, the combined run/shoot, at the start of last season.
 
It was a good day all round for the British team with 20-year-old Katy Burke finishing fourth to achieve her best World Cup placing yet, with Samantha Murray and Freyja Prentice both securing top-10 finishes in seventh and ninth respectively.
 
Olympic silver medallist Heather Fell finished 13th, Katy Livingston finished 15th, Lydia Rosling came 19th and Kate French was 28th.

Spence said: "I’m really pleased. It’s been amazing.

"I’ve been training well and I knew I was in really good shape.

"I was aiming for the top-six, I just wanted to have a decent competition, so to come out on the podium is a bit more than I expected. 

"I’ve been working hard on my fencing and it went really well today.

"I was really focussed and having a good start really built my confidence for the rest of the day.  

"I felt like my legs were going all over the place at the end, but the home crowd carried me over the line."
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB’s performance director, said: "Mhairi’s third place is fantastic for her.

"She has struggled a bit with the new format and she is just getting there now.

"We’ve really seen some of our junior athletes coming through today.

"This wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic support we’ve had from UK Sport and Lottery funding.

"It’s been a fantastic event at Medway.

"The organisation has been immaculate."


Related stories
April 2010: Marosi wins Medway World Cup in thrilling finish
April 2010: Medway Park welcomes modern pentathlon’s elite for third World Cup event