Joseph Choong catapulted himself back up the modern pentathlon rankings to put him in reach of a second consecutive Olympic final.
The Tokyo 2020 victor had a difficult fencing ranking round on the first day of competition but returned to his usual challenger status in his semi-final that combines all of the remaining four events.
Choong snuck into the final in 17th place, with the top ninth athletes from each semi-final making the cut and sits on 1497 points heading into the final.
Choong knows it will be a tough ask to get within medal contention now, needing to rely on some mistakes further up the standings to reach the podium, but was proud to look back to his best in the French capital.
“I knew I needed almost the perfect day," he said.
"I made a mistake on the horse which meant I didn’t gain any ground and then I thought that was probably it.
"It’s been a real battle. I had to collect myself between every event, especially after last night. I’m just glad my Olympics isn’t over yet."
Team GB's Charlie Brown finished on 1494 points overall and narrowly missed out on a spot in the final in 21st place.
Elsewhere, on the penultimate day of women's golf, Georgia Hall and Charley Hull also creeped up the rankings.
Hall shot 71 and is now three-over par in 27th position and 11 off leader Morgane Metraux of Switzerland.
Hull saw a brilliant third round propel her up the standings and is now five-over par but has left too much to do ahead of the final day.
"I’m starting to feel like I’m getting more into my game now," said Hull. "So that's good.
"I just feel more confident now I’m making more birdies. I’m feeling better in my game and feeling in a lot better headspace now."
Sportsbeat 2024