Rachele Bruni contributed to Italy's triumph in the 5km team event at the European Open Water Championships ©Getty Images

Italy’s Rachele Bruni, Simone Ruffini, and Federico Vanelli combined to claim the five-kilometres team event title at the European Open Water Swimming Championships in Hoorn today. 

The trio clocked a time of 55min 59.3sec to finish 37.7 seconds ahead of nearest challengers Finnia Wunram, Rob Muffels, and Andreas Waschburger of Germany. 

Vanelli and Bruni both stepped onto a podium for the second time this week with the former finishing runner-up in yesterday’s men’s 5km race and the latter tying for gold with France’s Aurelie Muller in the women’s 10km event on Sunday (July 10). 

Hungary’s team of Eva Fruzsina Risztov, Mark Papp, and Daniel Szekelyi completed the top three in the 5km team event with a time of 56:42.6.

Rob Muffels helped Germany claim a silver medal ©Getty Images
Rob Muffels helped Germany claim a silver medal ©Getty Images

Great Britain’s Danielle Huskisson, Caleb Hughes and Jay Lelliott came fourth in 57:03.5, while Russia’s Daria Kulik, Anton Evsikov and Sergey Bolshakov had to settle for fifth in 58:19.2.

Portugal, Poland and hosts The Netherlands finished from sixth down to eighth after all posting times over an hour.

Action in Hoorn is due to conclude tomorrow with the 25km mixed event.