PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Bea Simoka of Hungary took the lead after the second of five events and then held on to win the Women's Pentathlon World Championships on Thursday at Stanford University.

Simoka finished with 5,568 points, while Szuzsa Voros, also of Hungary, was second with 5,508. Georgina Harland of Britain made up 10 places in the final event -- the 3,000-meter run -- and was third with 5,468.

Tatiana Mouratova of Russia was fourth with 5,408 and was followed by Katalin Partics of Greece, 5,396, and Federica Foghetti of Italy, 5,392.

Simoka was seventh after the first event, shooting, but took over first place by winning the next event, fencing. By the time the final event began, she had such a large lead that she won the overall title despite posting only the 25th-best time in the run.

The modern pentathlon consists of shooting (20 shots at targets 10 meters away), fencing (once with each competitor), a 200-meter freestyle swim, riding an unfamiliar horse over a 350/450-meter course with 12 hurdles, and the cross-country run.

All the events are conducted in one day.

Lucie Grolichova, of the Czech Republic, won the shooting, Simoka the fencing, Omnia Fakhry of Egypt the swim, Voros the ride and Harland the run.

Harland won the bronze medal for the second consecutive year. Poland's Paulina Boenisz, the silver medalist a year ago, finished seventh. She was third after three events but finished 20th in the riding event and 16th in the run.

The Hungarian team of Simoka, Voros and Csilla Furi led the women's team competition with 15,660 points, while Italy was second with 15,388 and Russia third with 15,172.

The men's individual competition is Friday, with the women's relay competition Saturday and the men's relay Sunday.