Okimoto won silver whilst her team-mate Cunha was one place behind her in bronze in the women's 5km earlier in the Championships, but the pair went one better each to claim gold and silver over double the distance, with Okimoto touching just a third of a second ahead of Cunha in a time of 1 hour 58min 19.2sec.

"I'm so excited," the 30-year-old Okimoto said after getting her hands on the gold medal with a performance that will raise expectations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 

"I have got my second medal in these World Championships, and for this reason I'm really happy.

"I felt really strong during the whole race and finally I got this medal, it's really important to me."

But Payne, who won the women's 10km open water world title in both 2009 and 2011, has criticised her opponents for their aggressive tactics during the race after she finished back in 14th place.

"I am so disappointed that girls think they can be that rough during the race and get away with it," said Payne, who was close to tears following the conclusion of the race.

"The first two laps were totally fine, no problem, but all of a sudden it was absolute carnage, I've no idea how many places I lost going round one buoy.

"I was getting ducked, getting dunked, getting hit in the face, getting pushed about and swum over.

"It's just not what I was hoping I guess."

"The referees before the race said they were going to be really strict on this and I don't think they were strict enough," she added.

"I don't think this race needs to be won on who has got the biggest elbows or who can dunk somebody the most.

"It should be done on skill and agility - maybe that is part of it and maybe it's a part I am not very good at."

Ana Marcela Cunha (left) and Poliana Okimoto (right) added to their bronze and silver medals in the 5km open water, taking silver and gold respectively in the 10km race

Germany's Angela Maurer took bronze, finishing a second behind eventual winner Okimoto. 

In the diving, seemingly unbeatable Olympic champion Kai Qin took an unprecedented fourth successive men's three metre synchro springboard gold medal, claiming the win with new partner Chong He, a previous world champion in the event himself, ensuring a fifth gold in six diving events for China after amassing 448.86 points to finish more than 20 points ahead of silver medallists Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilia Zakharov of Russia.

Olympic gold medallist Zi He, also of China, triumphed in an incredibly close encounter with European champion Tania Cagnotto in the women's one metre springboard, overtaking the Italian with her final dive to win by just a tenth of a point, denying Italy a first World Championships diving title in 38 years.

China lead the medal table with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals, ahead of Russia with three gold and two silver. 

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