RIESA (Germany), Dec 14: Germany’s Antje Buschschulte, who won the 100 backstroke gold on Friday, made it a golden double with a close victory in the women’s 50 metres backstroke at the European short-course swimming championships on Saturday.

Buschschulte clocked 27.62 seconds to beat defending champion Ilona Hlavackova of the Czech Republic by 0.13 seconds.

Hlavackova, silver medallist in the 100, had to settle for another silver in 27.75, having won both the 50 and 100 titles at the last two editions of these championships. Germany’s Janine Pietsch took the bronze in 27.88.

Ukraine’s Oleg Lisogor completed a golden double for the second year when he added the 50 breaststroke title to the 100 breaststroke crown he retained on Friday, prevailing on Saturday in an exciting duel with Germany’s Mark Warnecke.

Lisogor won in 26.94, with Warnecke, three times gold medallist in the event, clocking 27.15 to take the silver for the second successive year. Germany’s Jens Kruppa won the bronze in 27.36.

Sweden won the concluding women’s 4x50 metres medley relay from Germany and the Netherlands.—Reuters