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Kolesnikov sets new 50m backstroke record

Russian teenager Kliment Kolesnikov has broken Britain Liam Tancock's 50m backstroke world record by clocking 24.00 seconds at the European Championships.

Russian swimmer Kliment Kolesnikov
Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov has set a new world record for the 50m backstroke. (AAP)

Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov has set a world record for the 50m backstroke while winning the European Championship title in Glasgow.

The teenager clocked 24.00 seconds on Saturday to take 0.04 seconds off the record set by Britain's Liam Tancock at the world championships in Rome in 2009.

Kolesnikov, who had been part of Russia's 4x100m freestyle gold medal-winning quartet on Friday, powered down the length of the Tollcross International Centre pool to earn his second gold just a month after turning 18.

His performance was so dominant that he beat Romanian silver medallist Robert-Andrei Glinta, a former world junior champion, by 0.55 seconds.

Kolesnikov, who has long been tipped to lead the new generation of talented Russian swimmers, had already enjoyed a stellar career since earning his first international call-up in 2016 for Russia at the European Junior Championships.

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There, he announced himself in spectacular fashion by breaking world junior records in both the 50m and 100m backstroke en route to the gold medals.

Last year's world championships in Budapest was his first senior international meeting which he marked by finishing fourth in the 200m backstroke while also setting two more world junior records.


2 min read

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Source: AAP



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