Russia's Larisa Ilchenko pulled away from her chasers in the women's marathon 10-kilometer swimming?in Beijing?Wednesday, snatching the first Olympic gold in open water swimming.

Ilchenko, who followed British swimmers Cassandra Patten and Keri-Anne Payne during most part of the race, successfully overtook the two British after the last turn and finished the race in one hour 59 minutes and 27.7 seconds.

British Payne proved herself as an outstanding long distance swimmer with a silver in 1:59:29.2. Payne finished with a disappointing 11th position at the 2007 World Championships after being stung in the mouth by a jellyfish while leading the 10km open water event.

World championships silver medalist Patten won bronze in 1:59:31.0.?

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)