It was Cochrane's third world medal in this non-Olympic event, following bronze in 2009 and silver in 2011. Cochrane, the 2012 Olympic 1500m freestyle silver medallist, also collected world silver medals in the 1500 in 2009 and 2011. Oussama Mellouli (TUN), the only man to have won Olympic titles in both pool and open water, finished eighth and last in 7:52.79. Mellouli, gold medallist in the open water 5km and bronze medallist in the 10km in Barcelona, won the Olympic 1500m freestyle in 2008 and the Olympic 10km open water race in 2012.

World Record: Lin Zhang (CHN), 7:32.12 – July 29, 2009 in Rome (ITA)
Championships Record: Lin Zhang (CHN), 7:32.12 – July 29, 2009 in Rome (ITA)
Best performance of the current season (since January 2013): Yang Sun (CHN), 7:41.36 – July 31, in Barcelona (ESP)
2003-2011 winners in this event: 2003 – Grant Hackett (AUS, 7:43.82); 2005 – Grant Hackett (AUS, 7:38.65); 2007 – Przemyslaw Stanczyk, (POL, 7:47.91); 2009 – Lin Zhang (CHN, 7:32.12); 2011 – Yang Sun (CHN, 7:38.57)
The best in this event (1. most victories or 2. fastest time): Grant Hackett (AUS, 2003 & 2005)
Not in the Olympic programme

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QUOTES:
Gold medal winner: Sun Yang (CHN)
On crying on the podium: "That's the way I express myself. No matter if I win or lose, I always get very emotional."
"I changed my mind right before the deadline to apply for the swimming events, I wanted to prove myself in this race, I felt I had the power to defend this title for my country, I wanted this title to remain in Chinese hands."
"The pressure comes both from the outside and inside. After swimming at many international meets, I'm now able to adjust myself, I gained from my experience, also thanks to the support from my friends and family."

Silver medal winner: Michael McBroom (USA)
"I'm excited with the silver. I just wanted to come here and put down the best swim that I could and I think I did that."

Bronze medal winner: Ryan Cochrane (CAN)
"It was hard coming back from the 400m (where he finished fourth). The 800m was a good swim. It was a couple of seconds from what I wanted it to be but I made the podium so I'm happy. I was expecting this medal but I knew I had to fight hard to get here."
"At Worlds, anything can happen and anybody has a chance on the podium."