The 25-year-old from Loughborough, fifth in the event at London 2012, claimed victory in 1 hour 56min and 38.1sec to take the gold medal.

He beat Germany's Olympic silver medallist Thomas Lurz into second place with Italy's Simone Ruffini in third

British Swimming's interim head of open water Berni Dietzig praised the performance from Fogg.

"He was continuously challenged for the lead by some of the world's best open water swimmers over the last 2 kilometres," said Dietzig.

"But he displayed his strength and determination and defended his position into the finish."

In the women's event, Italy's Olympic bronze medallist and world number two Martina Grimaldi took the win in a time of 2:09:20.

Second place went to Eva Fabian of the United States while Grimaldi's compatriot, Rachele Bruni, took the bronze.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]