Team GB swimmer Hector Pardoe thought he 'lost an eye' in final lap of Olympic marathon swim

Team GB's Hector Pardoe has pulled out of the men's 10km marathon swim after taking an elbow to the face.

Pardoe, who was born in Wrexham, thought he had "lost an eye" in the final lap of the race.

The swimmer told the BBC, "I could see that any chance of a top five, top six was over.

"I think I managed to do well to catch the group up. I was feeling ok, got into it a bit. And then in the last lap, took an elbow to the face - I thought I'd lost the eye.

"My goggles came off completely. I always think whenever I was going to get an injury that I would be able to finish the race, but my goggles completely fell off and I couldn't even get them.

"I couldn't see anything, I thought my eye had fallen out in the water."

The 20-year-old's recent rise in the sport has seen him claim top-10 finishes at the FINA Marathon Swim World Series event in Doha for the past two years. He also won the Olympic qualifier in Portugal this year.

Pardoe has not let the experience get to him and is already thinking ahead to the next Olympic Games.

"Over the next three years I'm going to get a lot of races under my belt, get my head down, grind, try and come back for Paris and win it."