Evgenij Pop Acev won the Italian-leg of the Open Water Swimming Grand Prix ©FINA

Macedonia's Evgenij Pop Acev was victorious in the third stage of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) Open Water Swimming Grand Prix event in Capri-Napoli.

Pop Acev won the final leg of the 36 kilometres competition which ran from Capri to Naples.

The distance expert finished in 6hours 17min 04sec to finish 15 seconds clear of Argentina's Damian Blaum.

Bertrand Venturi of Italy finished a distant third, over eight minutes behind in 6.25.49.

Marcel Schouten of The Netherlands was fourth in 6.28.22.

He was closely followed by Brazil's Matheus Evangelista, in 6.28.54, and Edoardo Stochino of Italy, in 6.29.26.

Two competitors, Italian duo Francesco Bianchi and Simone Ercolo did not finish the race whilst there was one non-starter in Santiago Enderica of Ecuador.

The women's race was won by Pilar Geijo of Argentina in a time of 6:46:34 ©Getty Images
The women's race was won by Pilar Geijo of Argentina in a time of 6:46:34 ©Getty Images

The women's race was won by Pilar Geijo of Argentina in a time of 6:46:34.

The two time FINA Open Water World Cup winner finished almost a minute ahead of her nearest competitor, Olga Kozydub of Russia.

Kozydub finished in 6:47:37 whilst Ilaria Raimondi of Italy finished in third in 6:50:04.

The nearest competitors were a fair distance behind the top three.

Anna Mankevich of Russia finished almost seven minutes behind Raimondi in a time of 6:57:48 whilst her compatriot, Daria Kulik, completed the race in 6:58:00 which secured her fifth place.

There was only one non-finisher in the women's race, Argentine Daira Marin.