Kristof Rasovszky finally reached the top of the podium as he claimed his first 10km world title following a surge on the final lap at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha.
The Hungarian, who had already booked his Olympic spot by virtue of finishing second at the 2023 World Championships, had been at the head of the field for much of the race before dropping back into the pack at the end of the fifth of six laps.
But he seemed to find a second wind at the Old Doha Port and put in a surge to lead the way round the final buoy and came home in 1:48.21.2 ahead of Marc-Antoine Olivier of France (1:48:23.6) and Britain’s Hector Pardoe (1:48:29.2), both of whom booked Olympic quota spots.
It saw Rasovszky upgrade silver to gold following second places at the Tokyo Olympics behind Florian Wellbrock and in Fukuoka last year.
On being crowned world champion, the Hungarian, who was suited to the choppy conditions, said: “It sounds really good.
“I came here to win a medal.”
Olivier added:
“It’s incredible for me because it’s the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Incredible race, perfect conditions today.
Pardoe, who became the first British man to have reached the 10k podium in World Championship history, said:
“That sprint finish was really hard.
“I missed out on the medal in Funchal (World Cup) in December and wasn’t going to let it happen again this time so I just dug deep and made sure i got my hand on the wall first.”
Logan Fontaine made it two Frenchman in the top four as the Olympic hosts claimed two quota spots ahead of Australia’s Nick Sloman, David Betlehem of Hungary with Domenico Acerenza and Dario Verani in seventh and eighth.
Marc-Antoine Olivier Photo Courtesy: FINA/Doha 2020
It meant Italy claim two spots for Paris with Verani having raced instead of Gregorio Paltrinieri but with the Tokyo bronze medallist set to to take the second spot having qualified for the 1500 free at Paris 2024.
Kyle Lee made it two Australians in Paris in ninth followed up by Matan Roditi (Israel), Oliver Klemet (Germany), David Farinango (Ecuador), Athanasias Kyrigakis (Greece), Ivan Puskovitch (USA) and Toby Robinson (Great Britain).
Given Rasovszky and Klemet had already qualified for Paris, Robinson picked up the final automatic spot in 15th.
Rasovszky struck out on the first lap, driving away from the group who broke away following a feed to lead, and led at halfway ahead of Fontaine, Acerenza and Pardoe.
Fontaine made his move to lead by the end of the fourth of six laps with Rasovszky second and Acerenza third.
The pace started to pick up on the fifth lap with the pack starting to stretch out with Fontaine leading Acerenza, Olivier, Rasovszky and Oliver Klemet into the final lap.
The Frenchman forged ahead into the sixth lap, knowing he doesn’t have the finishing speed of some of his rivals, with teammate Olivier moving up on the outside and on to to his ankles.
Sloman had powered the field and moved alongside Olivier who in turn went alongside Fontaine.
The lead kept on changing before Rasovszky made his move, going stroke for stroke with Sloman with the pair joined by Acerenza with the trio in a line.
Rasovszky surged once more and came round the final buoy ahead with 200m to go, the Hungarian taking the touch to add 10k gold to the 5k title he won at Gwangju 2019.
Pardoe led a photo finish for third although he clearly touched ahead.
