Pardoe claims sixth in swim marathon

Welsh swimmer Hector Pardoe delivered a stellar effort to claim a top-10 finish in the Men’s 10km marathon swimming.

Pardoe had to pull out of this race at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago when he was elbowed in the face in the last lap which split his goggles and he was losing sight in one of his eyes.

In the River Seine he found himself in the middle of the pack and 14 seconds off the lead after the first lap.

However he improved as the gruelling near two-hour race went on, even raising hopes of a possible medal in the closing stages.

After a photo finish he was awarded sixth place by 0.1 second ahead of Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier.

Pardoe’s time of 1 hour 50 minutes 50.8 seconds was 58 seconds behind gold winner Kristol Rasovskyz of Hungary.