The 22-year-old had carried a 10-point lead from the previous day’s semi-final into today’s final at the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) event having produced an excellent performance in the fencing ranking round, where he earned 25 wins and suffered just 10 defeats.

Shaban's closest challengers going into today’s competition were the French pair of Valentin Prades and Valentin Belaud, along with Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Woongtae Jun and Hungary’s Bruce Demeter, all of whom were 10 points adrift of the leader, with Britain’s Tokyo 2020 champion Joseph Choong five points further back.

Jun eventually took silver, with Shaban’s compatriot Ahmed Elgendy, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, earning bronze.

It was a different story in the earlier women’s final as Hungary’s Kamilla Reti found a 15-point lead was not sufficient to earn her a place on the podium.

Lithuania’s 2021 European individual champion Ieva Serapinaite, who had kept herself in contention by finishing third in her semi-final, put everything together best to take the gold.

Germany’s Rebecca Langrehr earned silver ahead of Mexico’s Mariana Arceo, who had won the second semi-final.

The UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup in Ankara, the second in the planned series of four before Ankara hosts the World Cup final from May 31 to June 4, concludes tomorrow with the mixed relay.