The successor to Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was decided after just one round of voting on Thursday, the body's Director General Christophe De Kepper said.

The winner is expected be revealed by 1530 GMT.

Seven heavyweight candidates are vying to become the most powerful person in sport, a post 71-year-old Bach has held for 12 years.

The front-runners are widely seen to be IOC veteran Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and former Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe.

It had been thought the race was a close one and would go through several rounds of voting but it took just one round for an absolute majority of the 100-plus members to decide a winner.