Tokyo Olympics: Team GB’s Hector Pardoe RETIRES from men’s 10km marathon swim

Hector Pardoe was forced to withdraw from the men’s Olympic 10km marathon swim  with just a couple of kilometres left.

Pardoe revealed after the race, which was won by dominant German Florian Wellbrock, that he had received a stray elbow to his face.

He admitted to the BBC: ‘On the last lap, I took an elbow to the face, I thought I had lost the eye. My goggles completely came off.

Team GB’s Hector Pardoe sports a bandage over his right eye after being struck by stray elbow

Germany’s Florian Wellbrock cruised to Olympic gold in the men’s 10km marathon swim

‘I like to think whenever I get an injury I’d be able to finish the race but the goggles completely fell off. 

‘And I couldn’t even get them. And I couldn’t see anything. I thought my eye had fallen out into the water. 

‘And I was going up to the lifeguards saying “my eye, my eye – is it OK”. 

Wellbrock destroyed the rest of the field, recording a remarkable time of 1:48:33.7seconds

‘And they weren’t giving me a very decisive opinion. And yeah, I had to get out after that.’

The scorching Tokyo conditions also made it a brutal event for those competing, but German swimmer Wellbrock certainly didn’t let that affect him.

The German powered his way to Olympic gold in a time of 1:48:33.7 – winning by over 25 seconds ahead of Hungary’s Kristof Rasovksy Italy‘s Gregorio Paltrinieri. 

The German made light of the scoring Tokyo conditions on Thursday at the Olympics