HURST 11TH IN 10K OPEN WATER

BEIJING, CHINA, August 21: Ky Hurst has finished 11th in a frantic end to the inaugural men's Olympic 10 kilometre open water swim at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park.

Hurst sat with the pack for the first three and a half circuits of the four lap race but was unable to go with Great Britain's David Davies, Netherland's Maarten van der Weijden and Germany's Thomas Lurz over the last one km. DAVID LYALL AOC REPORTS...

The three leaders took different lines to the finish but were always within a few strokes of each other until van der Weijden clawed his way to a body length lead.

The two metre plus Dutchman, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2001 and returned to swimming in 2003, hit the finish pad in one hour 51mins 51.6 seconds, to win from Davies (1hr 51:53.1) and Lurz (1hr 51:53.6).

It was a tough effort from Davies who led for the majority of the race, backing up after finishing sixth in the 1500m freestyle final in the National Aquatics Centre on Sunday.

Hurst posted a (1hr 52:13.7) and was in a finishing pack that contained the fourth to 16th placed swimmers all within 12.9 seconds of each other - a commendable effort for one of the world's greatest watermen.