Open water swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal has won the 10km open water title at the world championships in Budapest, her first gold medal since the 2016 Olympics.

The 28-year-old timed her finishing sprint to perfection to overtake Germany’s Leonie Beck and Brazilian Ana Marcela Cunha in the final metres, winning in a time of 2:02:29.

It was her first world title following three silver medals and made up for her disappointing 10th place in the 5km event.

‘I knew I had to approach it differently from the 5km,’ she said. ‘I’m very good at flicking the switch. I wanted to swim smart: hold back and then give everything in the sprint.’

Van Rouwendaal is in action again on Thursday in the longest race at the championships, the 25km.