Rio 2016: Sharon van Rouwendaal powers to victory in open water race at Copacabana

In other news, Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk smashed her own world record on her way to victory in the women’s hammer throw – four years after being denied gold by Russian Tatyana Lysenko.

South Africa’s Michelle Weber, centre, and other swimmers enter the waters for the women’s marathon event. David Goldman / AP Photo

Sharon van Rouwendaal claimed gold for the Netherlands in the Olympic women’s open water race at Copacabana.

Van Rouwendaal began to pull away on the third of four laps, and it was not even close by the end of the 10-kilometre race.

She touched the timing board before her closest challenger had even entered the finish chute.

The winning margin was 17.4 seconds, far more than the 0.4s four years ago.

“I felt so good,” Van Rouwendaal said. “I swam so easy. I felt no fatigue. After 6km, I changed my mind and thought I should push on.”

The bigger drama came behind the winner.

Aurelie Muller of France touched next, but then it was announced she had been disqualified for an incident at the finish of the rough-and-tumble sport.

That moved Italy’s Rachele Bruni up to silver, while Poliana Okimoto took bronze – the first swimming medal won by a Brazilian woman, either in the pool or open water.

Bahrain's Ruth Jebet blew away the competition to win the women's 3,000 metres steeplechase gold, but narrowly missed out on the world record.

Jebet ran a bold race, bursting into the lead after a few laps and setting a blistering pace to win in 8 minutes, 59.75 seconds, just shy of the 8:58.81 world record set by Russia’s Gulnara Galkina at Beijing 2008.

Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng, who won the world title in Beijing last summer, was nearly 50 metres from the finish line when Jebet won, and had to settle for silver. American Emma Coburn won United States’ first medal in the event with a bronze.

Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk smashed her own world record on her way to victory in the women's hammer throw – four years after being denied gold by Russian Tatyana Lysenko.

Wlodarczyk, regarded as the best women’s hammer-thrower of all time, heaved a monumental 82.29m on her third attempt to crush the competition. Zhang Wenxiu of China took silver with a throw of 76.75m while Britain’s Sophie Hitchon claimed bronze with 74.54m.

Top-ranked teen Lydia Ko might ruin her game if she wins the first women's Olympic golf title in 116 years, because she says she might never remove her gold medal.

“The Olympics were the biggest goal of mine this year,” Ko said yesterday. “If I end up holding the gold medal and standing upon the podium, it will be extra special. I don’t know if I will ever take that medal off. It will bruise me when I swing with it.”

The New Zealander, 19, is among the contenders when the second Olympic women’s golf event begins tomorrow at the same Rio course where Britain’s Justin Rose captured the men’s gold medal Sunday.

Ko played five holes of the layout while Rose was holding off Sweden’s Henrik Stenson for the title and later had her photo taken with Rose and his gold medal. “To be able to take a photo with the gold medal was special,” Ko said. “Hopefully some of the vibes came off.”

* Agencies