BUDAPEST (Reuters) - American Justin Ress won gold in the 50m backstroke in dramatic circumstances at the world championships in Budapest after officials overturned his initial disqualification following a lengthy review.
Victory was earlier awarded to compatriot Hunter Armstrong after it was ruled that no part of Ress’s body was above the water as he reached first for the wall.
Ress, who had set the pace in the heats and the semifinals, was later reinstated as the winner and the medal ceremony held again, with Armstrong taking silver and Polish teenager Ksawery Masiuk having to settle for bronze.
Canadian Summer McIntosh continued her superb run in the Hungarian capital after the 15-year-old beat fellow teen Katie Grimes of the United States to collect the 400m medley title. U.S. swimmer Emma Weyant came a distant third.
“It’s really cool to race someone like Katie as she is around my age and she’s a really tough competitor,” said McIntosh. “So I’m looking forward to racing her and keep pushing myself.”
Gregorio Paltrinieri, gold medallist at the Rio Olympics, set a new championship record in the 1,500m freestyle, comfortably finishing ahead of Robert Finke and Florian Wellbrock in a time of 14:32.80.
The Italian looked on course to break Sun Yang’s world record of 14:31.02 but faded in the last 100 meters.
“So many people thought I was finished. I am not a person who lets himself be influenced by others but in these days I had enough doubts,” Paltrinieri, 27, told reporters.