Italy’s Marcello Guidi and Brazil’s Ana de Jesus Soares became the first gold medallists of the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games, winning the Open Water swimming events at the Katara Beach on Sunday.

While Guidi won the men’s 5km event in 55min 25sec, Brazil’s world champion De Jesus Soares dominated the women’s field (59:51).

With just 40M left in the men’s four-lap race, Guidi and Russia’s Denis Adeev (55:26) passed Germany’s Soeren Meissner (55:28) in a sprint to the gold. Giudi then edged ahead to notch an excellent win.

It was his first international medal and he was pleased.

“I’m very happy because this’s my first-ever gold in an international race. I’ve concluded my season with a superb result, and I’m more confident than ever before. I sprinted the final 40M, and that gave me the title. It was an important result for me,” said Guidi.

There was no such drama in the women’s race. De Jesus Soares, the Pan American 10km open race champion, took the lead early and never relinquished it.

“When you race, you know you don’t have space when you feel the touch of others at your feet. Today, I didn’t feel that, and I knew I’d some space for the finish,” she said.

China’s Yawen Hou (59:52) and Germany’s Leonie Beck (59:53) finished second and third respectively.