The U.S. returned to the world podium in its most storied individual event, but a Russian is at the top.
Evgeny Rylov held off Olympic champion Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebley in the last 50 meters to win the 200m backstroke at the world championships in Budapest on Friday.
He became the first Russian man to win a global swim title since Alexander Popov swept the 50m, 100m and 4x100m free titles at the 2003 Worlds.
The Olympic bronze medalist Rylov clocked 1:53.61, topping Murphy by six tenths despite having the slowest final split of the top six swimmers.