Samantha Murray won her first medal at World Cup level to boost her hopes of making the Great Britain modern pentathlon team at the Olympics.
With only two spots available in London, the battle looks set to go right down to the wire, but Murray again showed she is a real contender with an impressive performance in Rostov to win bronze.
The field was not as strong as in previous World Cups this season but there were still some quality athletes and for a long time it looked like Murray would take gold.
The 22-year-old from Clitheroe, who finished fourth in Hungary last week, led the competition going into the combined run and shoot and held her position until the last kilometre, when she was overtaken by Anastasiya Prokopenko of Belarus and then world champion Victoria Tereshuk.
Murray said: "It is a great performance to win my first World Cup medal. My running is normally better but today I didn't have it in my legs."
Katy Burke began the combined event in second but faded to 11th, while Olympic silver medallist Heather Fell produced a good finish to cross the line in seventh.
Katy Livingston dropped out of contention after a nightmare showjumping round.
Sam Weale and world junior champion Jamie Cooke will compete for Britain in the men's final on Sunday.