The German swimmer Thomas Lurz has won the men's 5km Open Water competition at the World Championships in Italy for the fifth time in a row.
The Olympic bronze medallist at 10km continued the domination he has exerted over this event since 2005 in Montreal by pipping Greek Spyridon Gianniotis into second in a time of 56mins 27.2sec.
Chad Ho of South Africa denied hosts a medal as he took bronze ahead of Luca Ferretti.
Lurz is the most successful swimmer of all time in Open Water events, having also won the 10km competition twice.
He now has seven gold medals, two silvers and two bronzes.
