By Emily Goddard

thomas_lurz_28-09-11September 26 - German Thomas Lurz reinforced his unbreakable lead after winning the sixth leg of the FINA 10 kilometre Marathon Swimming World Cup this weekend, making him the only open water swimmer so far to collect two victories in this year's series.


The Olympic bronze medallist and reigning world champion in the five kilometres event completed the race in 1 hour 54 min 22.95sec in Shantou, China, ahead of Chinese newcomers Zu Lijun and Zhang Zibing, who finished in 1:54:23:19 and 1:54:26:86, respectively.

Winner of the 2010 series Chad Ho, South Africa, claimed his best result of the season with a fourth place, while Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece - the current world champion in the Olympic distance - took fifth, after finishing first in Setubal and second in Santos.

Among the women, United States' Emily Brunemann clinched her first podium appearance of the season, touching home in 2:04:52:41, while Germany's Angela Maurer and Nadine Reichert trailed Brunemann until the final sprint but could not match her pace, settling for second in 2:04:52:72 and third in 2:04:55:78 respectively.

Both already count a victory in their season's results - Maurer in Setubal and Reichert in Lac St-Jean.

This latest set of results show that Germany are well on their way to take the spotlight in this year's World Cup series with Lurz comfortably leading the men's overall ranking and Maurer the women's.

The last race of the 10km World Cup will be held in Hong Kong on October 2.

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