European C'ship: Russia overcome pool problems to take title

Russia's familiar domination of the synchronised swimming programme at the European Championships continued on Saturday as they won their third successive title in two days of competition, despite problems with the pool water.

The Russian team landed the team free title, with gold medals awarded to a nine-strong outfit -- Anastasia Arkhipovskaia, Anastasia Bayandina, Daria Bayandina, Marina Goliadkina, Veronika Kalinina, Polina Komar, Maria Shurochkina, Darina Valitova and Mikhaela Kalancha.

Yet it was not all plain sailing for a weary team that also suffered from problems with the pool conditions at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.

"All year we have worked so much and I feel exhausted," said Shurochkina after her team's athletic routine.

"Maybe because this is the end of the year and we have vacation coming closer and closer, our energy level dips.

On the conditions in the pool, she said: "Do you see me? I have these red eyes. The conditions are awful because of the chlorine."

Her team mate Komar added: "It was too much chlorine. Much more than yesterday. I could not see the team, all I could see was white."

Despite these concerns, the Russian team still won convincingly, their routine gaining them 97.0333 points, well clear of second-placed Ukraine on 94.6000 and Italy on 92.2333.

Kolesnikov sets 50m backstroke world record to win European title

Kliment Kolesnikov of Russia set a world record for the 50 metres backstroke while winning the European Championship title in Glasgow on Saturday.

The teenager clocked 24.00 seconds to take 0.04 seconds off the record set by Britain's Liam Tancock at the world championships in Rome in 2009.

Kolesnikov, who had been part of Russia's 4x100 metres freestyle gold medal-winning quartet on Friday, powered down the length of the Tollcross International Centre pool to earn his second gold just a month after turning 18.

His performance was so dominant that he beat Romanian silver medallist Robert-Andrei Glinta, a former world junior champion, by 0.55 seconds.

"I said to myself to keep calm. I realised I could win after the semi-final yesterday but I didn't think much about the world record," Kolesnikov said.

Kolesnikov, who has long been tipped to lead the new generation of talented Russian swimmers, had already enjoyed a stellar career since earning his first international call-up in 2016 for Russia at the European Junior Championships.

There, he announced himself in spectacular fashion by breaking world junior records in both the 50 and 100 metres backstroke en route to the gold medals.

Last year's world championships in Budapest was his first senior international meeting which he marked by finishing fourth in the 200 metres backstroke while also setting two more world junior records.

Though he was evidently delighted, the youngster evidently has bigger fish to fry. "The big goal is the Olympics (in Tokyo in 2020). It is nothing special what I have done today, the special one is the Olympics."