INQUIRER Sports

BEIJING -- Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden won the Olympic gold medal for the men's 10 kilometers open water marathon swim on Thursday adding to the world crown he won earlier this year over 25km.

The 27-year-old used his experience to let the leaders set the early pace before a late burst saw him claim gold in a time of 1 hour 51 minutes 51.6 seconds.

His strong finish left Great Britain's David Davies in his wake to finish almost two seconds behind for silver, while Germany's Thomas Lurz took bronze at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on the outskirts of Beijing.

Davies, who finished sixth in the 1500-meter freestyle final at the Water Cube last week, and Lurz, who won gold at the open water world championships in 2004 and 2006 over 10km, had shared the lead for most of the race.

"It's going to take a while for it to sink in," said Davies, who finished in 1 hour 51 minutes 53.1 seconds.

"I gave it everything and now I have something to show for it. It's a once in a lifetime experience," said Davies.

With an hour gone Davies had a two meters lead over Lurz before the German closed the gap and the pair tussled for the lead before van der Weijden made his late move.

"I knew Maarten finished well, so I was trying to stay with him," said the German.

“I had to battle with the group with 700 meters to go and I lost a lot of strength in the fight to stay in the race,” he said.

"That cost me silver, but I am happy with bronze," he said.

There was shock for Russia's 10km world champion Vladimir Dyatchin who was disqualified after being shown a yellow card and then a red for misconduct in the last stages of the race.

"It's the first time that I have got two cards in my career," said the 25-year-old who has won back-to-back world 10km titles.

"I struggled in the water with a lot of athletes around me, I didn't want to push them away."