FLASH! European Championships: Kliment Kolesnikov Blasts 50 Back WR In 23.93
Kliment Kolesnikov became the first man to go inside 24 seconds as he lowered his own 50-meter backstroke world record to 23.93 in the semifinals at the European Championships in Budapest.
The Russian set the previous mark of 24.00 at the last European edition in Glasgow in 2018 and he showed great power over the second half of the race to slice .07secs from that mark.
Kolesnikov has been on superb form so far this season and left the water to prepare for the men’s 4×100 free relay where he anchored the Russian quartet to the gold medal. Last year, he set a short-course world record in the 100 backstroke during the International Swimming League season.
The 20-year-old – who won three golds among six medals at the 2018 Europeans – said:
“Wow, it’s an incredible feeling, I was thinking of beating the world record but I didn’t focus on that, I only thought of the first place and of the swim.
“Somewhere deep in my mind I was ready for this result but at the same time I freed myself for this race.”
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