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Kristof Rasovszky (C) of Hungary, Logan Fontaine (L) of France and Eric Hedlin of Canada pose on the podium during the awarding ceremony of the Men's 5km Open Water at Fina World Championships in Yeosu, South Korea, on July 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)

GWANGJU, South Korea, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian swimmer Kristof Rasovszky won the men's 5km open water swimming Saturday, becoming the first gold medalist of the 18th FINA World Championships that kicked off Friday in Gwangju, about 330km south of South Korea's capital Seoul.

Rasovszky took his first career world title, finishing the race in 53 minutes and 22.10 seconds at Yeosu EXPO Ocean Park in Yeosu, a city some 100km to the south of Gwangju.

Logan Fontaine of France was the silver medalist in 53:32.20, and Eric Hedlin of Canada got the bronze in 53:32.40, just 0.2 second behind the runner-up.

It was the first medal event of the championships scheduled to last through July 28.

Chinese swimmer Qiao Zhonyi finished 13th among 61 contestants with the time of 53:37.60. His teammate Cheng Long came in 45th in 54:18.70.

To save energy, the Chinese swimmers sought to swim in the middle in early stage and turn the race around in the last minutes, said their coach Lu Sen who noted that the strategy worked well.

However, Lu said that other contenders also took similar strategies. Qiao coming in the 13th was 5.40 seconds behind the runner-up.