The judges went to the cameras after 10 kilometers could barely separate a massive number of swimmers, as the grueling marathon swim that is the men’s open water race ended with incredibly high drama.
The split-second finish saw Netherlands swimmer Ferry Weertman slap the board just ahead of Greece’s Spiros Gianniotis, claiming gold for the Dutch.
WATCH: Full swim replay
The judges needed photos to sort out the bronze medal as well, as France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier just out-touched China’s Lijun Zu.
USA’s Jordan Wilimovsky was 3.4 seconds out of first, but finished fifth. American swimmer Sean Ryan was disqualified.
It didn’t look like it would be much of a competition for more than half the race, with Australia’s Jarrod Poort comfortably in the lead for more than 7 kilometers. His early lead was more than a minute, but he faded.
It was a cleaner but still similar finish than the photo ending to the women’s race, as a French swimmer was disqualified for dunking her opponent.