Van Rouwendaal does 'perfect race'

BUDAPEST • Sharon van Rouwendaal yesterday became just the second swimmer after Russia's Larisa Ilchenko to claim the trinity of 10km open water titles at the Olympics, the European Championships and the Fina World Championships.

The Dutchwoman, the 2016 Rio Games winner, completed her sweep of golds in 2hr 2min 29.2sec, edging out German Leonie Beck (0.5sec behind) and Brazil's Ana Marcela Cunha (1.5sec).

It took a photo finish to determine the winner, with the trio practically finishing neck and neck in a sprint to the touchpad.

"It's pretty hard," said van Rouwendaal. "All the time you have to find a different tactic and a different way to swim a 10km and today, I think I did the perfect race.

"Today, I was top fit and I felt really good. I was waiting for my moment and then in the end everything fell together - everything I had in my head fell together.

"I think I did a really good sprint, and I focused on myself and didn't look at the other girls and just looked at the finish and (swam) to get there as fast as possible... I really love Budapest and I won two golds here last year (at the Euros) and the conditions are perfect."

It was a one-two finish for the Italians in the men's 10km open water event as Gregorio Paltrinieri (1:50:56.8) finished ahead of Domenico Acerenza (1:50:58.2), while German Florian Wellbrock (1:51:11.2) was third.

In diving, the Chinese stamped their authority for the fourth straight day with yet another gold in the mixed 3m and 10m event.

The duo of Bai Yuming and Quan Hongchan scored 391.4 points, a whopping 32.9 ahead of runners-up Alexis Jandard and Jade Gillet of France, with Britain's James Heatly and Andrea Sirieix in third a further 0.9 behind.

China have already won the men's 3m synchronised, women's 10m platform and 3m springboard golds in Hungary.