KAZAN, Russia — The gun went off for the medley relay final at the swimming world championships, and it quickly seemed that Russia was in deep trouble. Its backstroker rapidly fell behind the other seven swimmers and by the end of the leg was more than seven seconds behind the leader and nearly six seconds behind the next slowest swimmer.
Things did not improve on the breaststroke leg as Russia slipped to more than 15 seconds behind the leading team, from Britain. The Russians looked as if they were swimming in a different race than the rest of the field.