Efimova wins gold in women's 50m breaststroke at World Swimming Championships

Silver medal winner Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania, Gold medal winner Yuliya Efimova of Russia and Bronze medal winner Jessica Hardy of the USA celebrate on the podium after the Swimming Women’s Breaststroke 50m Final on day sixteen of the 15th FINA World Championships on August 4, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. (Getty Images)

Barcelona, Aug 5 (IANS): Yuliya Efimova ended her personal battle with Lithuania’s Ruta Meiliutyte when she took the gold medal in the women’s 50 metres breaststroke in the world championships held here.

Efimova, who won gold in the 100m breaststroke earlier in the week, had broken the 50m world record in Saturday’s heats, only for Meiliutyte to set a new world best of 29.48 in the semifinals in the afternoon, reports Xinhua.

With two world records falling in a matter of hours, Sunday’s race was always going to be a fast one and Efimova was able to finish stronger after Meiliutyte had got the brighter start.

Her time of 29.52 was just 0.04 of a second off Meiliutyte’s world record, but it was worth a gold medal as she finished 0.07 ahead of the 16-year-old with Jessica Hardy, who had held the world record before racing began Saturday, taking the bronze medal.