Dutch swimmer Ferry Weertman wins gold in men’s 10km open water photo finish

Ferry Weertman is your new men’s marathon swimming overlord, but only by a few fractions of a second. The Dutchman took gold after touching the wall in Rio’s 10-kilometer open water race just ahead of the pack.

Greek swimmer Spyridon Gianniotis, the event’s oldest competitor, finished in second place, one arm’s length behind the winner. France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier barely outreached China’s Zu Lijun for the bronze.

Australian Jarrod Poort opened up an early lead, separating himself from the field by nearly a full minute after the first lap of four on the course. He maintained his advantage through the first three quarters of the race, but the field reeled him in as the swimmers hit their final lap. Six men broke from the pack to swim side by side toward the finish with less than 400m to go, creating a frenzied end to the nearly two-hour event.

Weertman who finished second at the 2015 World Championships, beat out a talented field that included some of the world’s most accomplished distance swimmers. Tunisian Oussama Mellouli was the first person to ever stand on the podium in both indoor and open water events at the same Olympics and was defending his 2012 title. American Jordan Wilimovsky, just 22 years old, was the reigning world champion. Gianniotis was a two-time world champ in his own right.