Russian swimmer Evgeny Rylov won the Olympic gold in men’s 100m backstroke event in Tokyo on Tuesday, while another Russian, Kliment Kolesnikov, took the silver.
Rylov set a new European record of 51.98 seconds, while Kolesnikov was only 0.02 seconds behind. Ryan Murphy of the United States was third (+0,21).
This is Russia’s first Olympic gold in swimming since 1996, when Russian athletes won four golden medals: two by Alexander Popov (50m and 100m freestyle) and Denis Pankratov (100m and 200m butterfly).
Rylov is 24 years old. He is a bronze medalist of the 2016 Rio Olympics in 200m backstroke event. Also, the Russian has two world and four European championship titles.
Kolesnikov, 21, holds a world championship silver medal in 4x100 freestyle relay, and two world championship bronze medals: in 50m backstroke and 4x100 mixed relay. He is also a six-time European champion. Kolesnikov also holds the world record in 50m backstroke of 23.80 seconds.
As of today, the Russian national team in Tokyo, where it participates under the name of the Team ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) due to international sanctions against Russian sports, boasts five gold, six silver and three bronze medals. The list of the 2020 Summer Olympic medalists is currently topped by hosts Japan (eight gold, two silver and three bronze medals). It is followed by the national team of the United States (seven gold, three silver and seven bronze medals) and the Chinese team in the third place with six gold, five silver and seven bronze medals.
