Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand defended his Olympic title by winning gold at the Lagoa Stadium, but it was not without true drama. 

Coming into this final, the New Zealander was the second fastest of the six takes. He was placed in lane four. The Czech Republic Ondrej Synek who came in as the fastest was given lane three. In lane five was the Croatian Damir Martin. In the second lane was Belarus' Stanislau Shcharbachenia. The outside lanes were covered by Cuba's Angel Fournier Rodriquez in one and Hannes Obreno in six.

Drysdale takes gold with photo finish

In lane five, Damir Martin got off to the quickest start. In second place was the triple world champion Synek of Czech Republic. Mahe Drysdale got off to a typically slow start and was down on the two front runners. 

At the first checkpoint of 500m, Damir Martin was ahead with Synek in second. New Zealand's Drysdale was still in third place with his strongest part of the race to come. 

As they passed the 750m mark, it was clear that the three favourites - Martin, Drysdale and Synek had gone clear of the rest of the field and were battling it out for the medals. 

At the halfway point of 1000m, Damir Martin of Croatia was still out in front just 1.18 seconds ahead of Synek and 1.61 seconds ahead of Drysdale in third place. However, the New Zealander began to make ground on the Croat in his strongest part of the race. 

Mahe Drysdale and Damir Martin during the race (Photo: Pool/Getty Images)
Mahe Drysdale and Damir Martin during the race (Photo: Pool/Getty Images)

Drysdale was slowly making his move and he passed Synek in second and was hunting down Martin, who had led from the first stroke. At the third 500m, Drysdale made his move and was now quickly moving ahead of Martin. 

As they reached the 1500m, it was Drysdale who had taken the lead ahead of Martin who was only 0.80 seconds behind. In third place was Synek who struggled to cope with the pace set by the New Zealander and the Croat. 

With the race coming to the finish line, Synek tried pushing Martin in second place. However, Martin then found another gear, pushed on and was catching Drysdale. Martin caught the New Zealander and as they came to the finishing line, it was Drysdale who seemed to have escaped by the narrowest of margin. He and Martin finished in a time of 6:41:34 with the New Zealander getting the gold  and Martin agonisingly taking the silver. In third was Synek who came away with the bronze. Finishing in fourth place was Hannes Obreno. Fifth went to Stanislau Shcharbachenia and sixth to Angel Fournier Rodriguez. 

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