The elite of open water swimming gathered as the 3rd FINA World Open Water Championships got underway at Creek Park in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

The United Arab Emirates has a long and solid reputation in open water swimming, as attested by its successful athletes and by the efficient organization of some legs of the FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup in its territory. It was therefore just recognition of their commitment that sees Dubai host these championships.

The 5km events for got the competition underway at the Dubai creek on Saturday afternoon with the men's and woman's events.

First up was the men's event which saw a record field of 32 athletes representing 27 countries line up. And what a race it turned out to be.

From the gun it was Alan Bircher from Great Briton who headed the pack out to the first turn of the 2,5km rectangular course with Chris Thompson (USA), Thomas Lurz (Ger), Grant Cleland (Aus), Christian Hein (Ger) and Josh Sanacaterina (Aus) in close attendance.

Picking up the outgoing tide this group opened up a slight lead over the chasing pack, however after the second turn, the pack began to hunt them down. At the 1km mark it was Bircher who was feeling the pressure and allowed Lurz to take on the workload of heading the field.

This order remained in place going into turn three and four. Coming back against the outgoing tide was tough and the pace slowed significantly.

Undeterred the German hung tough and brought the field back through the first lap with the Australian duo in close attendance while his compatriot, Hein lurking.

The pack hauled in the leaders at this point and much to the delight of the spectators a spectacular race was on the cards.

The Aussie duo however had other ideas and coming out of turn six Cleland broke with Santacaterina in close attendance. The Germans responded with Mexico's Ivan Lopez Ramos edging ahead of Bircher and the evergreen Peter Stoychev from Bulgaria going wide to get some assistance from the rip. Thompson has fallen of the pace and was now in the second group.

This was the defining point of the race as the field spread significantly and coming out of turn eight the race for the finish was on. Cleland surged, Lurz responded. Sanatcaterina working hard hauled them in with Hein and Lopez Ramos in close attendance.

With 200m to go the swimmers remained grouped much to the delight of the crowd who at this stage became extremely vocal in their support, urging their favourites to greater heights.

And what a cracker of a finish it turned out to be. Cleland held the advantage; Hein edged ahead of Santacaterina, while Lurz and Lopez Ramos dug deep, but to no avail as the Aussie claimed his maiden world title in a time of 56,52.9.

Hein (56,54.1) out-touched Sanatcaterina (56,55.5) to secure the silver, while Lurz (57,01.5) claimed fourth place ahead of a determined Lopez Ramos (57,02.8) much to the delight of the large German contingent.

The promising Alan Bircher from Great Briton was disappointed with his 6th place in 57,08.3, however with both the 10km and 25km events still to come, much can be expected from this athlete who has taken the European open water swimming scene by storm during the past 18 months.

Seventh place went to stalwart, Peter Stoychev in a time of 57,32.3 who was well satisfied with his effort, while eighth place saw Russian Evgeny Drattsev post a time of 57,48.9.

With less than 2 minutes separating the first 20 places, this was without a doubt one of the most keenly contested 5km events in the short history of the FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships and certainly augers well for the future of this discipline in the FINA family.

The ladies event started 10 minutes after the men and as a spectator this provided some interesting racing. With 14 countries represented and 21 athletes participating, another exciting race was expected

Edith van Dyk from the Netherlands stamped her authority on the event in the early stages and held a significant lead over the pack coming out of the second turn.

However just as in the men's event, the field hauled her in by the third turn and coming out of turn four it was a completely new race.

With the wind picking up and the "e;chop"e; increasing the ladies battled gamely on and coming through the 2,5km mark the leading pack was headed by Germany's Britta Kamrau, the Russian duo of Ksenia Popova and Larisa Ilchenko with the versatile Sara McLarty from the USA in close attendance.

Heading the pack 10m adrift were van Dyk and Italian Alessia Paoloni.

Coming out of turn 6 the Russian duo made a significant break, which was to prove decisive in the final analysis. Ilchenko powered ahead much to the delight of the large Russian contingent to build an advantage she was never to relinquish.

Her winning time of 1:03,11.9 was a fine effort in trying conditions, while Popova (1:03,43.8) did enough to hold off McLarty (1:03,52.9) to secure the silver for Russia.

McLarty fresh off a successful meet at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Durban, South Africa last week is one of the most versatile and promising athletes currently competing on the world circuit is a sponsors dream. This likeable and unassuming young lady certainly has a bright future and is sure to make an impact in whatever discipline she eventually chooses.

Kamrau placed fourth in a time of 1:03,54.0, while Paoloni (1:04,21.1) was good enough to hold off van Dyk (1:04,25.4).

Karley Stutzel from Canada claimed seventh place in a time of 1:04,29.1 while Australian Lauren Arndt was placed eighth in 1:04,30.2.

All in all it was a fine effort by both the men and woman competitors in extremely tough conditions.

Germany won the team event with a combined time of 2:57,49.6, (Hein, Lurz & Kamrau), with Australia second with a combined time of 2:58,18.6 (Cleland, Santacaterina & Arndt) with Russia third with a combined time of 2:58,56.2 ( Drattsev, Luchikov & Ilchenko)

The 10k events follow on Monday afternoon.