The Russian was never headed after winning the opening fencing event, and bronze went to his compatriot Ilia Frolov, with the Ukraine's Pavlo Tymoschenko  getting in between them for silver.

For Lithuania's world champion Justinas Kinderis the day was one of disappointment as he found himself in 22nd position after the fencing and swimming events, and although he lifted himself up the rankings by finishing sixth in the riding event, his efforts in the combined run/shoot left him 49 seconds adrift of Lesun in ninth place.

Lesun put his mark on the competition from the off, earning 27 victories in the fencing, one more than Frolov, while Tymoschenko also put himself in a strong position with 23 wins.

The swimming was won by Egypt's Amro El Geziry in a time of 1min 53.26sec, more than four seconds faster than the next athlete, China's Jianli Guo.

Lesun's time of 1:59.83 was 12th best in the pool, and enough to keep him in the lead.

In riding only Leandro Silva of Argentina achieved the maximum result of 300 points, but he was already out of the mix for medals and eventually finished 26th,  with second place in the event going to Yasser Hefny of Egypt.

Lesun maintained his overall position with a ride which saw two knockdowns and exceeded the time limit by five seconds. Frolov took third place in the equestrian event, managing a clear ride but exceeding the time limit by 10 seconds.

Russia's Aleksander Lesun was never headed as he won the World Cup final in Sarasota ©Getty Images

All this meant Lesun started 24 seconds before Hefny in the combined run/shoot, and 28 before Frolov, and by the time he reached the finishing line he was still 11 seconds clear of his nearest challenger.

Behind him, silver was being contested fiercely however as Hefny fell back to an eventual 17th place overall on the second running loop, and Tymoschenko came past Frolov on the last shooting range.

Lesun won with 1,461 points, 11 seconds ahead of Tymoschenko,  and 20 seconds ahead of Frolov with 1,441, with fourth place going to France's Christopher Patte thanks to a fifth place in the combined event which left him just five seconds adrift of the medals.

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