Simone Ruffini wins World Championship gold in open water swim

Italian Simone Ruffini has won gold in the men's 25km open water race to become world champion at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan.

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The 25-year-old held off American Alex Meyer by just four seconds to take victory in the Russian rain in a race which lasted almost five hours on the Kazanka river.

The pair battled out front for much of the race before Ruffini surged clear with only a few kilometres to go.

Matteo Furlan took bronze for Italy, but he finished over 90 seconds behind.