Germany’s Lukas Maertens said he was “overwhelmed” Saturday after surging to the men’s Olympic 400metre (m) freestyle gold medal, but always believed he would rise to the top.

The 22-year-old was under world record pace for 350m at La Defense Arena before fading in the final stretch to touch in 3:41.78 seconds ahead of Australia’s Elijah Winnington (3:42.21).

South Korean world champion Kim Woo-min took bronze in 3:42.50 seconds. It was Maertens’ first Olympic medal after making his debut at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games.

“I am extremely happy and just overwhelmed. I can’t put into words what I am feeling now. I stopped, looked at the scoreboard and thought, ‘Nah, that can’t be right’.”

His rise to the top has been on the cards. He came into the race as heavy favourite after clocking the fastest time since 2012 in April, and more than a second quicker than anyone else this season.

Paul Biedermann’s 3:40.07 seconds world best has stood since the super-suit era in 2009, and, pushed by Kim, Maertens appeared on track to beat it until running out of gas.

China’s Sun Yang went close to toppling Biedermann’s mark at the 2012 London Olympics, but no-one else had come close until Maertens this year.

Maertens admitted he was targeting the record. “Yes, but the goal was definitely a medal. If it had been bronze, it would have been okay. I was thinking about gold, and now it’s come true,” he said.

“A lot of people expected the record to fall. I don’t care, I am on top now. It means everything to me. You can see my progress in performance,” he added.

“There are many reasons. I constantly believed in myself, training didn’t always go well, I had some setbacks, but the important thing is to learn from the setbacks, and to keep at it with the training.” –Nampa/AFP