BREAKING: Open Swimmer Alex Meyer '10 Wins World Championship

Former Harvard swimmer Alex Meyer ’10 was unofficially announced this afternoon as the winner of the 6th FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in Roberval.

Meyer beat out Italy's Valerio Cleri by just over one second to take home the gold in the men's 25k. James Bown of Niagara Swimming circulated the unofficial results in an e-mail after the competition.

Meyer, a former Crimson co-captain, was invited to represent the United States at the international competition that features swimmers from over 20 countries, after he secured two fourth place finishes in the 5k and 10k at the U.S. National Open Water Swimming Championships held in Long Beach, Calif.

While at Harvard, Meyer managed to rewrite the Crimson record books, notching the second-fasted time in school history in the 1,650 free. Meyer posted a time of 14:58.13 at the NCAA Championships in the event, good for a 14th place finish.

In a sport where wall-to-wall coverage is not the norm, updates on race status could be gleaned from Twitter, where one U.S. swimming fan alerted viewers about two hours ago that Meyer had taken the lead with 4.5 km to go.