A three times World Champion and a hot favorite just before the start of the race Larisa Ilchenko proved her worth once again by bagging a gold medal at the Women's 10km Marathon Swimming Race at Beijing Olympics on August 20, 2008. With only 50 meters to spare, Ilchenko managed to swim past and dominated the race right at the end with Britain’s Keri-Anne Payne making a close second with a gap of 1.5 seconds.

Known for her tactics, Larisa Ilchenko had finished the competition in the time lapse of 1:59:27.7 seconds. Though both Payne and Patten had ruled over the early parts of the race, they failed to beat the tactics of Ilchenko and thus lost their safe positions. Keri-Anne Payne of Britain won the silver and Cassie Patten of Britain won the bronze.