FINA Live Blog :Swimming, Day 8 - Women's 50m breaststroke: Efimova wins second Barcelona title

Yulia Efimova (RUS), who saw her newly minted world record from the heats broken by Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) in the semi-finals, took revenge by beating the Lithuanian in the women's 50m breaststroke final to win her second gold medal of the FINA World Championships. Efimova, gold medallist in the 200m breaststroke and silver medallist behind Meilutyte in the 100m event, edged her 16-year-old rival out by just 0.07 seconds, winning in 29.52 - inside the 29.78 world mark she set in the heats on the day before but a fraction outside the 29.48 posted by Meilutyte in the semi-finals. Meilutyte had to settle for silver in 29.59, with Jessica Hardy, 50m breaststroke world champion in 2007 and 2011, taking bronze in 29.80. That time matched the former world mark she brought to Barcelona before her European rivals rewrote the record book.

Olympic 200m breaststroke bronze medallist Efimova, who also won the 50m world title in 2009 and was second in 2011, leaves Barcelona with gold in the 50m and 200m breaststroke and silver in the 100m. Meilutyte won the 100m breaststroke on Day 3, having set a world record in the semi-finals. She now holds both the 50m and 100m world marks.

World Record: Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 29.48 – August 3, 2012 in Barcelona (ESP)
Championships Record: Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 29.48 – August 3, 2012 in Barcelona (ESP))
Best performance of the current season (since January 2013): Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 29.48 – August 3, in Barcelona (ESP)
2003-2011 winners in this event: 2003 – Xuejuan Luo (CHN, 30.67); 2005 – Jade Edminstone (AUS, 30.45); 2007 – Jessica Hardy (USA, 30.63); 2009 – Yulia Efimova (RUS, 30.09); 2011 – Jessica Hardy (USA, 30.19)
The best in this event (1. most victories or 2. fastest time): Xuejuan Luo (CHN, 2001 & 2003), Jessica Hardy (USA, 2007 & 2011) and Yulia Efimova (RUS, 2009 & 2013)
Not in the Olympic programme