Barcelona, Jul 21 (IANS): Haley Danita Anderson of the US and Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia won the first gold medals of the World Swimming Championships here as they won the women's and men's five km open water events.

Anderson dominated the first 2.5 km of the route since the beginning Saturday and at the end of the race passed Brazilian swimmer Poliana Okimoto Cintra, who finished second. Anderson completed the two laps in 56 minutes and 34.2 seconds while Okimoto clocked 56:34.4 and Brazil's Ana Marcela Cunha won the bronze (56:44.7), reports Xinhua.

Mellouli won in the men's category after beating Eric Hedlin of Canada and Thomas Lurz of Germany at the last moment. Mellouli clocked 53:30.4, just 1.2 seconds ahead of Hedlin. Lurz finished in 53:32.2.

The open water competition was held at the Moll de la Fusta.

A total of 2,293 athletes are participating in the tourney this year and 173 of them will take part in open water competitions.