Australia’s Emily Seebohm celebrates after setting a new world record to win the women’s 1500m freestyle at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia. Right: Russian Yuliya Efimova delivered a first home gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke. (AFP)

DPA /Kazan, Russia

Australia basked in backstroke glory at the swimming world championships in Kazan yesterday, with gold medals for Emily Seebohm and Mitch Larkin coming amidst world records for Britain and the US. Seebohm claimed a first individual world title by winning the women’s 100m backstroke, while Larkin took his maiden victory at this stage in the same event for the men.
Britain’s James Guy powered to victory in the men’s 200 metre freestyle while his teammate Adam Peaty set a world record in the men’s 50m breaststroke, just hours after South Africa’s Cameron van der Bergh had broken the record himself.
American Katie Ledecky added a second victory to her 400m freestyle win, swimming the 1500m free in world record time and improving the best mark she set in the heats on Monday.
Russian Yuliya Efimova delivered a first home gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke, edging out previous champion Rut Meilutyte of Lithuania and Alia Atkinson of Jamaica.
The Australian Seebohm claimed her world title by winning in 58.26 seconds, touching the wall ahead of team-mate Madison Wilson. Mie Nielson of Denmark claimed bronze. Seebohm fought back as American Kathleen Baker - who only escaped the heats when Katinka Hosszu withdrew from the semis - led. Seebohm evenutally triumphed 0.49 seconds ahead of Wilson, with Nielsen six-tenths behind and reigning champ Missy Franklin off the pace in fifth.
Larkin enjoyed his backstroke breakthrough after coming out on top in a tight contest. He trailed defending champion Matt Grevers by one-hundredth at the turn but eventually edged out France’s Camille Lacourt by 0.08 seconds to win in 52.40. Grevers dropped to third, 0.26 seconds off the pace.  Britain’s Peaty posted 26.42 to snatch the world record in the breaststroke sprint semi-final, knocking two-tenths off the previous record set by Van der Burgh just hours earlier in the heats. The pair will do battle again in today’s  final after Peaty beat Van der Burgh to 100m gold on Monday.  
Van der Burgh’s first swim of 26.62 brought the fifth of now seven world records at the championships and the first record set by a man.
But Peaty, who also swam an unratified 26.62 in the 2014 European Championships, immediately fought back in the semis with an undisputed record.  “Tonight I knew there was something in there,” Peaty said. “Between me and Cameron it’s amazing, a kind of rivalry, so we push each other to the limits.”
The medal events began in dramatic fashion, with Guy winning a 200m free in which less than eight-tenths of a second separated the top five swimmers. Despite trailing into the last length, Guy edged out Sun by six-hundredths, with the 2009 champion Biedermann a further 0.18 seconds behind. America’s Ryan Lochte, winner in 2011, narrowly missed out on a medal by placing fourth.
Ledecky cruised to victory in the 1500m, winning in 15:25.48 to shave another 2.23 seconds off her own world record. The 18-year-old now has six worlds golds along with a 800m free win from the 2012 Olympics.
Lauren Boyle of New Zealand, more than 14 seconds adrift from Ledecky, took silver. The bronze went to Boglarka Kapas of Hungary.  Ledecky dusted herself off to then qualify comfortably for the final of the 200m free, albeit a little down the field topped by Federica Pellegrini of Italy.
The loudest cheer of the night was saved for Efimova who brought the crowd to their feet in the Kazan Arena, a converted football stadium.  Her win is not without controversy, as she had just returned from a 16-month drug ban, to the previous annoyance of Meilutyte.
But that hiatus will not affect the record books, which will show the Russian to have won in 1:05.66, seventh-tenths ahead of Meilutyte and 0.76 seconds ahead of Atkinson. Defending champion Chad Le Clos reached the final of the men’s 200m butterfly but was behind Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, who topped the timesheets. In the men’s 800m free, Connor Jaeger qualified first with defending champion Sun in the middle of the pack for the eight-man final today.


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