Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli survived a late surge from his rivals to win the men’s 10km swimming marathon yesterday and become the first person to hold Olympic titles in both pool and open water races.

Mellouli broke clear at the start of the last lap and clung on in the final stages to hold off Germany’s Thomas Lurz and Richard Weinberger, of Canada.

The Tunisian, who also came third in the 1,500m freestyle on Sunday, finished 3.4sec ahead of Lurz in a superb time of 1hr 49min 55.1sec at a sun-soaked Hyde Park.

World champion Spyridon Gianniotis, of Greece, finished just outside the medals in fourth place, with Great Britain’s Daniel Fogg fifth.

Mellouli’s victory represented yet another milestone for the pioneering 28-year-old.

In 2008 in Beijing, three months after returning from an 18-month doping ban, he became the first African man to win an Olympic gold swimming medal when he topped the podium in the 1,500m freestyle.

He is the second man to have tasted victory in the Olympic open water swimming marathon, after Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden won the inaugural event in Beijing four years ago.

“I don’t think this has ever been done before. This is probably one of the toughest things to do,” he said.

Yesterday’s race was the final swimming event of the London Olympics. The United States were already assured of finishing top of the swimming medals table, having accumulated 31 medals – including 16 golds – in the pool.