GWANGJU, South Korea, July 19 (Xinhua) -- France and Brazil each took gold medals in the 25km men's and women's open water swimming at the 18th FINA World Championships in the South Korean city of Gwangju on Friday.

Axel Reymond of France finished first in four hours, 51 minutes and 6.20 seconds in the men's 25km event, just 0.3 seconds faster than Russia's Kirill Belyaev, who won silver.

Reymond swam in the top-five lead most of the race to conserve energy for a final spurt 2km ahead of the touchpad.

Alessio Occhipinti of Italy claimed bronze in 4:51:09.50. Chinese swimmers Lu Mingyu and Wang Ruoyu placed 19th and 20th respectively among 24 competitors.

In the women's 25km race, Brazil's Ana Marcela Cunha took her second gold of these championships, after winning gold in the 5km event.

Cunha finished in 5:08:03.00, 8.60 seconds ahead of the silver medalist Finnia Wunram of Germany. Lara Grangeon of France came third in 5:08:21.20.

The Brazilian double gold medalist has been dominant in the 25km race, capturing three 25km gold medals in 2011 from Shanghai, in 2015 from Kazan and in 2017 from Budapest.

Among 21 contestants, Chinese swimmers Ren Luomeng and Qu Fang finished 14th and 16th respectively.