OSTIA (Rome) – Germany’s Thomas Lurz has won the men's 10km Open Water competition at the World Championships in Italy.

The Olympic bronze medallist at 10km continued the domination in the open wtaer contest, winning in 1 hour 52 minutes, 6.9 seconds and relegating US swimmers Andrew Gemmell and Fran Crippen at second and third respectively.

Lurz, 29, also won the 5K race yesterday.

The top female finisher was Briton Kery-Anne Payne, who finished in a time of 2 hours 1 minute 37.1 seconds.

Ekaterina Seliverstova won silver and Italy’s Martina Grimaldi took third place.

Leading results of 10km event:

WOMEN
1. Kery-Anne Payne GBR 2h01:37.1
2. Ekaterina Seliverstova RUS 2h01:38.0
3. Martina Grimaldi ITA 2h01:38.6

MEN
1. Thomas Lurz GER 1h52:06.9
2. Andrew Gemmell USA 1h52:08.3
3. Fran Crippen USA 1h52:10.7

The Italian team protested, hoping that Valerio Cleri could raise from fourth place to third if Crippen is disqualified because of a short cut before the finish line.