Valerio Cleri easily clinched the men's open water 25km world title on Saturday to more than make up for missing a medal in the 10km race. The Italian won in five hours 26 minutes to roars of delight from the home crowd on Ostia beach, with Australia's Trent Grimsey second and Russian Vladimir Dyatchin a distant third. Cleri was fourth in Wednesday's 10km race but thought he had won bronze when third-placed Francis Crippen missed a gate. However, judges decided against disqualifying the American. Swimmers had to deal with especially large waves on Saturday which pushed the buoys on the course close to the shore. The choppy seas meant Cleri's time was 22 minutes behind Maarten Van der Weijden's winning mark at last year's open water worlds in Seville. In the women's race, the final event in the open water worlds, Germany's Angela Maurer triumphed in five hours 47 minutes ahead of Russian Anna Uvarova and Federica Vitale. Fellow Italian Martina Grimaldi was put in an ambulance following the draining race. German favorite Thomas Lurz won the 5km and 10km races earlier in the week to rack up eight world titles. Olympic and reigning world champion Russia, meanwhile, added yet another gold medal to its collection by winning the synchronized swimming team free competition. Russia scored a hugely impressive 99.167 with Spain taking up its usual second position one point back and China in third on 97.167. With the synchronised swimming program at an end in these championships, Russia won six out of seven gold medals but was not competing in the one event it did not win. For Natalia Ishchenko it was her fourth gold medal of these championships and 10th overall at the worlds. Beijing Olympic champions Huo Liang and Lin Yue won the men's 10m platform synchronized diving in dominant style. The Chinese duo won with a total of 482.58 points. Americans David Boudia and Thomas Finchum took silver with 456.84, and Cuba's Jose Antonio Guerra and Jeinkler Ernesto Aguirre earned bronze with 456.60. Huo and Lin gave China their seventh diving gold of the championships in the 10th and final event. They set the tone with an opening dive that drew four perfect 10s for synchronisation and two for execution.
