SINGAPORE — Open water competition at the World Swimming Championships went off Wednesday after two postponements because of water-quality problems at Sentosa, the island area on the coast.
Florian Wellbrock of Germany won the men's 10-kilometer race in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 55.50 seconds. Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy was almost four seconds behind in second place and Kyle Lee of Australia was third in 2:00.10.30.
Wellbrock took gold in the Tokyo Olympics in the 10-kilometer race and was the bronze medalist there at 1,500 meters in the pool. This is his eighth gold in world championship events.
Moesha Johnson of Australia won the women's 10-kilometer race in 2:07.51.30. Ginevra Taddeucci of Italy took silver in 2:07.55.70, with bronze for Lisa Pou of Monaco in 2:07.57.50.
Johnson was the silver medalist in this event a year ago at the Paris Olympics. She also took gold in the 2024 Doha worlds and was the bronze medalist two years ago in Fukuoka, Japan.
The open water swimming program had been initially scheduled to open on Tuesday.
Event organizers said water-quality samples taken on Tuesday afternoon showed ''a significant improvement with levels of E. coli falling between the ranges of good and excellent'' in regulations set by the governing body World Aquatics.
The Mayo Clinic says that ''E. coli bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most types of E. coli are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea.''
