Olympic Games in Paris: Kristof Rasovszky wins Olympic gold in the 10 km in addition to his world championship title, Hungary takes 1st and 3rd place
Kristof Rasovszky from Hungary added the Olympic title to his World Championship crown with his victory in the 10 km race in Paris 2024.
Rasovszky was in the top two the whole time and finished with a time of 1:50:52.7, turning the silver medal in Tokyo into gold three years later.
Oliver Klemet from Germany finished second, 2.1 seconds behind, with David Bethlehem Edge Domenico Acerenza in the sprint to the finish, meaning there are now two Hungarians on the podium.
It is the first time since the introduction of marathon swimming into the Olympic programme that two men from the same country have shared the podium, although the British pair Anne Payne And Cassandra Patten achieved 2nd and 3rd place in the women’s race in Beijing 2008.
Thirty-one men jumped from the pontoon of the Pont Alexandre III into the Seine and were ready for six laps of the 1.67 km circuit.
Florian Wellbrock and Rasovszky took the lead of the field. The pair sailed stroke by stroke along the first lap along the shore, followed by Gregorio Paltrinieri, Marc-Antoine Olivier and Acerenza.
Wellbrock completed the first lap in 17:04, followed by Paltrinieri, Rasovszky, Klemet and Anathasios Kynigakis from Greece.
Rasovszky took pole position, led until the end of the second lap and had a drink at the aid station before accelerating and opening up a gap on the chasing group.
Wellbrock, however, led the response and although the Hungarian was ahead at halftime, the German regained the lead in the early stages of the fourth lap.
Rasovszky came back and the pair occupied the top two places until the penultimate lap, when the Hungarian attacked again and tried to put some distance between himself and the rest.
While Rasovszky remained at the front of the field, Wellbrock fell far behind and was overtaken as the field rode close to the bank in the second half of lap five.
Rasovszky went into the final lap on pole position, closely followed by Klemet, Paltrinieri, Betlehem and Acerenza, with Wellbrock in seventh place.
At the last buoy, Rasovszky and Klemet had separated themselves by a considerable distance from a group of four consisting of Acerenza, Paltrinieri, Betlehem and Hector Pardoe.
However, when the swimmers reached the shore, the gap had already been significantly reduced and the Italian duo were within striking distance.
As he crossed the Invalidenbrücke for the last time, the two leaders were able to pull away once again, with the Hungarian extending his lead until the finish straight and winning ahead of the German.
Behind them, Bethlehem and Acerenza were in step, stroke for stroke, with the former exceeding the lead by 0.6 points.
