Kazan, August 1

Italy’s Simone Ruffini won gold in the men’s marathon 25-kilometer open water race on Saturday, edging out Alex Meyer of the United States at the world swimming championships.

Ruffini and Meyer battled through the rain on the Kazanka river to pull out a big lead. The Italian had more energy left for the final sprint to win in 4 hours, 53 minutes, 10.7 seconds. It was the first medal over 25K at a major championship for Ruffini, previously a European silver medalist in the team event.

Meyer took silver, 4.4 seconds behind, and the bronze went to Ruffini’s Italian teammate Matteo Furlan, 1:27.3 seconds off the pace. In the final open water event of the championships, Ana Marcela Cunha won gold for Brazil in the women’s 25K with a dominating final lap.

With more than 5K remaining, Cunha and Hungary’s Anna Olasz broke away from the pack before the Brazilian put in a final burst of speed to win in 5:13:47.3, with Olasz 26.1 behind. It was Cunha’s and Brazil’s third medal of the championships after silver in the team event and bronze in the 10K. There was bronze for Angela Maurer who took third, 1:20.3 off Cunha’s time.

The United States finished top of the open water medal table with two golds, won by Haley Anderson in the women’s 5K last week and Jordan Wilimovsky in the men’s 10K on Monday.