Kent’s Kate French has won a gold medal for Team GB in the modern pentathlon at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 30-year-old was fifth heading into the final event – the laser run – after a strong performance in the showjumping.

French, from Meopham, won the race – which sees competitors running 800m laps before picking up a laser gun to take five shots at a target – to secure the title.

The leading pentathlete starts first, with each point adrift converted to a one second delay for the remaining women.

The top five were all within 15 seconds of each other at the race start – but French surged into the lead by the end of the first lap.

She never looked back, missing just two of her 22 shots.

Speaking to the BBC she said: “I actually don’t know what just happened – I can’t believe it right now.”

“I just knew I had to focus, and I knew I could do it if I focused on my shooting and ran as fast as I could.”

“Thanks to my team supporting here and to my family at home. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

French built on her fifth place performance in Rio to become Britain’s second Olympic champion in the event and put Team GB fourth in the medal table with 18 golds.