Russia’s Yuliya Efimova has won silver at the 50-meter breaststroke on the final night of the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.
World record holder Jessica Hardy of the United States finished in a time of 30.19 seconds leaving the Russian three tenths of a second behind. Two-time winner in Shanghai, American Rebecca Soni, took bronze.
Elsewhere, Sun Yang of China broke the longest-standing world record in swimming – Australian Grant Hackett’s 10-year-old mark in the 1,500 meters. He finished the race in 14 minutes, 34.14 seconds, beating the old record time by over four-tenths of a second.
In the final event of the championship, the Americans edged Australia out to win gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay, while Germany finished third.
Also on Sunday, the chairman of swimming’s governing body (FINA) doping control review board stated there had been no positive drug tests at the world championships.
At the end of the two-week competition, China had won most of the medals – 36 – but despite that, it was the US team which occupied the top spot in the overall medal standings as they grabbed more golds – 17 as against China’s 15. Russia finished in third position with eight golds, six silvers and four bronze medals, mainly courtesy of its synchronized swimming team.