PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Germany's Lukas Maertens clinched the men's 400m freestyle gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Saturday by holding off a late challenge from Australia's Elijah Winnington in the final.
Maertens led from start to touch the wall in three minutes, 41.78 seconds, more than four tenths of a second ahead of Winnington at the Paris La Defense Arena. South Korea's Kim Woomin was third in a time of 3:42.50.
Maertens entered the race as one of the favorites, having recorded the fastest time this year. He became only the second German to win the event after Uwe Dassler, who won for East Germany at Seoul 1988.
The result gave Germany its first gold medal at Paris 2024 and the country's first men's swimming gold medal in 36 years.
For Winnington, it was redemption for a disappointing performance in the final of the same event at Tokyo 2020, when he finished second-last.
"Unbelievable. Three years ago I was in the exact same lane, lane six, and I bombed out and came seventh," Winnington said.
"I was fortunate enough to win a medal [by being] in the 4x200m relay heat at Tokyo [2020]. I haven't ever told anybody this, but I've never actually looked at that medal because I didn't think I'd earned it, so having a medal around my neck tonight on the dais is going to be really, really special for me."
Australia's Samuel Short made a promising start in the final but faded late to finish fourth ahead of Brazil's Guilherme Costa and China's Fei Liwei.
Oliver Klemet (Germany) and Aaron Shackell (United States) were seventh and eighth, respectively. ■
