10 kilometres Open Water, Men

The 10 km open-water race was held over six laps of The Serpentine, the eastern part of a lake in Hyde Park. The 2011 World Champion was Greek swimmer Spyros Gianniotis, with German Thomas Lurz having won the 2011 Worlds at 5 km. The early leaders in the race were Tunisian Oussama Mellouli, the 2008 1,500 metre freestyle gold medalist, and Canada’s Richard Weinberger, with Weinberger leading at the end of the first lap. On the second lap, Mellouli again took the lead, with American Alex Meyer joining him. But Weinberger sped up and led again at the second split, followed by his teammate Andreas Waschburger. Waschburger led after laps 3 and 4, followed by Mellouli and Weinberger, with Gianniotis and Lurz coming up close behind. On the fifth lap, Mellouli made his move and took a lead he never relinquished, eventually winning in 1-49:55.1 for gold, with Lurz taking silver in 1-49:58.5 and Weinberger earning bronze in 1-50:00.3.

Mellouli won despite having to overcome a shoulder injury. He had earlier won a bronze medal in the 1,500 in attempting to defend that title. His victory in The Serpentine made him the first swimmer to win Olympic gold medals both in the pool and open-water, although David Davies had won a silver medal in the 2008 open-water event and a bronze in the 2004 1,500 metres.