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Germany’s Lukas Maertens wins men’s Olympic 400m freestyle gold

Germany’s Lukas Maertens surged to the men’s Olympic 400m freestyle gold medal on Saturday, narrowly missing the world record.

The 22-year-old was under world record pace for 350m before fading in the final stretch to touch in 3min 41.78sec ahead of Australia’s Elijah Winnington (3:42.21).

South Korean world champion Kim Woo-min took bronze in 3:42.50.

It was Maerten’s first major medal after making his Olympic debut at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games.

But his rise to the top has been on the cards.

He came into the race as heavy favourite after clocking the fastest time since 2012 in April, and more than a second quicker than anyone else this season.

Paul Biedermann’s 3:40.07 world best has stood since the super-suit era in 2009, and, pushed by Kim, Maerten’s appeared on track to beat it until running out of gas.

China’s Sun Yang went close to toppling Biedermann’s mark at the 2012 London Olympics but no-one else had come close until Maertens this year.

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