Bulgaria's Stoychev Wins 11th Gold at Ohrid Lake Swimming Marathon

Bulgaria's top marathon swimmer, Petar Stoychev, won Sunday his 11th gold at the Ohrid Lake Swimming Marathon.

35-year-old Stoychev swam the 30km distance from the Monastery of St Naum to Port Ohrid in 5:19.30 hours, setting a new record for the race.

Stoychev topped the record of Slovenian swimmer Igor Majcen from 2000 by 19 seconds.

According to Bulgarian swimming news portal bgswim.info, Stoychev took part in the Ohrid Lake Swimming Marathon for a 20th time in 2012, winning the race 11 times in the past 12 years.

A total of 29 swimmers took part in the 30km open water race, including 18 male and 11 female swimmers.

Bulgaria's other swimmers at the 2012 Ohrid Lake Swimming Marathon were Lidiya Ivanova and Tsvetan Yordanov.

The race in Ohrid was the last one in the grand prix series of FINA for this season.

According to Stoychev's website, he will take part in the 18km BCT GDYNIA MARATHON in Poland, scheduled to take place between August 24-26.

Stoychev ranked 9th in the 10km event at the London Olympics, setting a personal best time, but voicing disappointment with his performance.

He told journalists that he was at the end of his career as a long-distance swimmer.