Ahead of them were Poland, winning their third gold medal of the Championship, with Russia in third.

 

A solid start in the shooting was followed by a strong performance in fencing with both Georgina Harland and Lindsey Weedon scoring 25 victories and just 11 defeats as Britain moved up to fourth overall.

 

Progress continued in the 3x100 metres relay swim and they lay third going into one of their traditionally strong events, the riding, level on points with China. Despite just two rails down in show jumpiong, Poland scored a perfect 1,200 points and set off on the cross country 16 seconds behind leaders Russia.

 

There was a gutsy run by both Mhairi Spence and Weedon but they made little impression on the leaders until Harland passed the Russian competitor to clinch the silver medal.

 

"It is terrfic to seel all team members winning medals here this week," said Jan Bartu, Britain's national performance director. "Today was a really good day, especially in fencing and these girls now deserve a break after a long hard season."