SA's Waddell stuns as he romps to GOLD in South Korea | Sport

28 Jul 2019

Zane Waddell (Getty Images)

Cape Town - Zane Waddell has stunned to win South Africa's first gold medal in the men's 50m backstroke final at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea on Sunday.

Swimming out of lane 2, the 21-year-old produced a massive upset as he touched the wall in 24.43 seconds.

Russia's Evgeny Rylov came second in a time of 24.49 and Kliment Kolesnikov rounded up the podium in 24.51.

This is Waddell's first FINA World Championships.

The South African team have won four medals to date in Gwangju - a gold, a silver for Schoenmaker in the women's 200m breaststroke and two bronze medals by Le Clos (100m and 200m butterfly).

Representing South Africa he surprised the crowd with an outstanding swim in the 50m backstroke in lane 2!! World Champion is Zane Waddell! ?????? Evgeny Rylov ?????? Kliment Kolesnikov ????#FINAGwangju2019 #FINAworlds pic.twitter.com/4Uo78ub03s
— FINA (@fina1908) July 28, 2019

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