Rising Romanian backstroke star Robert Glinta managed to stay on top of his game in order to claim gold and set a new championship record in the men’s 100m backstroke final Wednesday night.
Glinta won the final with a time of 54.30 bettering the 54.56 mark that he set in semifinals in order to take the top seed.
Taking the race out fast, Glinta never looked back. He turned first in 26.03, almost half a second ahead of the rest of his competitors. On the final 50 Glinta lost a bit of momentum, returning in 28.27, however it was enough to hold on for gold.
With Glinta’s new championship record it marks the third time that the championship record has been broken at this competition thus far as Michael Taylor of the United States reset the original mark in the heats with a 54.74.
Taylor ended up finishing second to Glinta in the final coming close to his semifinal time with a 54.64.
Luke Greenbank of Great Britain held on for the bronze medal with a 54.81, just narrowly beating American age group star Michael Andrew who settled outside of a podium position in 54.88.
Glinta is now within striking distance of the 54.15 Romanian senior national record that was set in 2009. With continued improvement, the record is well within reach.
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