Van Der Burgh wins 50 metres breaststroke gold

BARCELONA (Reuters) - South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh won the men's 50 metres breaststroke gold at the world championships in Barcelona on Wednesday.

Winner Van Der Burgh of South Africa celebrates after the men's 50m breaststroke final during the World Swimming Championships at the Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona

Van Der Burgh touched in a time of 26.77 seconds, a tenth outside the world record he set in Rome in 2009, with Australia's Christian Sprenger taking silver in 26.78 and Van Der Burgh's compatriot Giulio Zorzi bronze in 27.04.

It was the second gold of a fine session for South Africa after Chad le Clos won the men's 200 metres butterfly earlier on Wednesday.

Sprenger pipped Van Der Burgh to win the 100 metres breaststroke gold on Monday.

The 50 breaststroke does not feature in the Olympics.

(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Pritha Sarkar)