OREANDA-NEWS  Russian swimmers Kliment Kolesnikov and Oleg Kostin won gold at the Mare Nostrum International tournament in Barcelona.

Kolesnikov became the first in the 50-meter backstroke, he showed a time of 24.75 seconds. The silver went to Poland's Xavier Mask (24.84), while the bronze went to Hungary's Adam Jaso (25.22). Kostin took gold in the 50-meter butterfly (23.09 seconds). Egyptian Abdelrahman Elaraby was second (23.18), and Roman Shevlyakov, another Russian, was third (23.44).

In April, Kolesnikov received a neutral status. Prior to this, the Russian refused the procedure due to the conditions of admission put forward by World Aquatics. For this reason, he did not participate in the selection for the Olympics in Paris.

At the 2020 Olympic Games, Kolesnikov became the silver medalist in the 100-meter backstroke, and also took bronze in the 100-meter freestyle. In addition, the Russian is a six-time world champion in short water.