(Reuters) -Kliment Kolesnikov’s gold in the men’s 50m backstroke and a victory in the men’s 4×100 medley relay on Sunday saw Russia’s neutral athletes take fifth place in the medals tally on their return to the swimming world championships in Singapore.
The Russian Olympic Committee was banned for violating the Olympic Charter in relation to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but sports such as swimming have gradually welcomed more Russians back into the fold as neutrals.
Some Russian athletes also competed as neutrals at last year’s Paris Olympics, with California-based Evgenii Somov the only swimmer to do so.
Kolesnikov, the world record holder in the 50 backstroke, was competing in his first long course world championships since the 2019 edition held in Gwangju, South Korea.
No Russian athletes competed at last year’s world championships in Doha.
“It’s been a tough (time) since my first world championships,” Kolesnikov said.
The 25-year-old stormed to the 50 backstroke title ahead of compatriot Pavel Samusenko and South African Pieter Coetze with a time of 23.68, just 0.13 off his world record.
He was annoyed at not bettering the record, saying: “I was expecting my timing 23.9, or 23.8, and then you realise that you did 23.68 or something?
“I was like ‘come on, 12 thousandths of a second to my personal best’, and it was like why couldn’t I go faster?”
Russian swimmers then combined to win a shock gold in the men’s 4×100 medley in the penultimate event of the championships, giving the world record (3:26.78) a huge shake with a time of 3:26.93.
“This win particularly means a step forward towards our goal, towards 2028 (Los Angeles Olympics) and this is another milestone,” swimmer Andrei Minakov said.
“We’re happy to win. Unfortunately we missed the world record by just a tiny bit but, you know, I’m happy with our group and where we’re at. I’m sure that we’ll grow.”
Earlier this week, Dmitry Mazepin, President of the Russian Aquatic Sports Federation and Vice President of the ROC, told Reuters he hoped that Russian swimmers’ participation in the world championships would pave the way towards ending the country’s sporting neutrality.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
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