Bromley modern pentathlete Joe Choong was determined to take the positives from a mixed Olympic Games in Rio.

Choong had been sitting in silver medal position ahead of the combined event finale but narrowly missed out on a medal with several experienced runners surpassing him.

The 21-year-old felt his shot at a medal disappeared after a disappointing shooting round.

He said: “All of the competition has been good until those two shoots at the end. That really just threw my medal chances out the window.

“I am disappointed but I know coming into the competition I wouldn’t have been upset coming 10th.

“I’m not going to make excuses, I just couldn’t hit the target.”

Choong added: “I know if I had shot like I normally do I would have won a medal so that gives me great confidence going forward.”

The former Whitgift School pupil, who is now based in Bath, loved his Olympic experience and left Rio in a positive frame of mind.

“There are so many ifs and buts, but at the end of the day I have come 10th and that is more than I would have expected four years ago,” he said.

“This is the best I have done in the combined event in any competition so I have to be happy with that.”

Russian Alexander Lesun claimed gold in the men’s event ahead of Pavlo Tymoshchenko and Ismael Hernandez. Choong’s Team GB teammate Jamie Cooke finished 14th.

Cooke said: "Joe has put himself down a bit but we always say in Bath, he is not your average Joe. He is incredibly talented and if I had half that talent I would be laughing.

“He has come here to his first Olympic Games, he is probably one of the youngest here and he has smashed it.

“He will be disappointed now but when he goes away and thinks about it he will be so proud of it. He has a massive future.”