The 24-year-old from Cleveland produced an outstanding performance in Budapest to win her first individual World Championship medal.
 
British team-mate Heather Fell came just behind her in fourth place, while the Britain women’s team of Fell, Mhairi Spence and Georgina Harland also collected the team silver medal, behind Poland.

 

But the day ended on a sad note, with Harland limping over the finishing line after injuring a calf muscle during the run.
 
Livingston and Fell had already achieved the qualifying standard for the Olympics by securing top-eight finishes at last year’s European championships.
 
Both did their selection prospects no harm at all with strong performances in the final qualification event for Beijing.

 

Livingston started her 2008 campaign in impressive style, winning gold at the first World Cup of the year in Cairo in February.

 

But since then she had not secured a top-10 finish at a World Cup until today’s bronze in the final Olympic qualifier.
 
She said: “It was an amazing day today.

 

"It blows my last few World Cups out of the water.

 

“It shows I can perform under pressure on the big day.
 
“I was more worried about making the final here.

 

"I didn’t have a good semi-final at the World Cup in Kladno (Czech Republic) and I was worried I might not make the final here.
 
“Once I was in the final I felt much more relaxed.

 

"Once you’re in the final you can only do your best and I just had a good feeling about it today."

 

But Livingston did not get off to the perfect start – she shot 172 from a possible 200 in the opening discipline - the 10m air pistol shoot.

 

That put her 32nd out of 36 competitors at the stage of the competition.
 
She said: “It wasn’t the best of starts, but I went into the fencing feeling relaxed and just aiming to do the best I could.”
 
Livingston then produced an strong performance in the fencing, winning 25 and losing just 10 of her contests.

 

It was the second best performance fencing performance in the field.
 
Livingston said: “The fencing won me the bronze medal in the end.

 

“I jumped from 32nd to fifth place.

 

"Then I had a solid swim, a really good ride and a good run to finish it off.”

 

Pentathlon GB performance director Jan Bartu said:  “It was fantastic to win an individual bronze and a team silver.

 

“This is a new generation of young athletes taking on the best in the world and we are very, very proud of them.
 
“Katy was very nervous at the start of the shooting phase, but she fought back and fenced fantastically.

 

"She produced a very high quality performance today.”
 
He also paid tribute to Harland, the Athens 2004 Olympic bronze medallist.

 

She was working her way through the field on the run when she damaged a calf muscle 500 metres from the finish line.
 
She limped across the finish line in great pain to make sure Britain achieved a podium finish in the team event, and was helped on to the podium by Fell and Spence to collect her medal.
 
Bartu said: “She was in severe pain and limped to the finish.

 

"We only beat Hungary to silver by two seconds, and that was thanks to Georgina’s effort.”