Russia’s Evgeny Rylov beats US Olympic champ Ryan Murphy to claim gold at World Championships

Russian swimming ace Evgeny Rylov has won the men’s 200m backstroke final at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in South Korea, beating US Olympic champion Ryan Murphy, who finished second.

The 22-year-old Russian recorded a time of one minute and 53.40 seconds, beating his US opponent by 0.72 seconds.

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Luke Greenbank of Great Britain took bronze, finishing two seconds behind his Russian and American competitors.

This was the second individual medal for Rylov, who settled for silver in the men’s 100m backstroke event, a distance in which he had been the favorite to win gold.

Also on Friday, Yulia Efimova showed a dominant performance in the women’s 200m breaststroke, claiming the first gold in swimming for Russia.