Evgeny Rylov broke the American streak of winners in the men's 100-meter backstroke on Monday night.
The United States entered the race with a first-place finish in the event in six consecutive Summer Olympics dating back to 1996.
In fact, Rylov's triumph inside the Tokyo Aquatic Center marked the first time a non-American man won either of the Olympic backstroke events since 1992.
Rylov took first by two-hundredths of a second over compatriot Kliment Kolesnikov. Ryan Murphy came in third for the U.S.
Results
1. Evgeny Rylov, Russian Olympic Committee: 51.98
2. Kliment Kolesnikov, Russian Olympic Committee: 52.00
3. Ryan Murphy, United States: 52.19
4. Thomas Ceccon, Italy: 52.30
5. Jiayu Xu, China: 52.51
6. Hugo Gonzalez, Spain: 52.78
7. Mitch Larkin, Australia: 52.79
8. Robert Glinta, Romania: 52.95
Highlights
Rylov ended one of the longest medal streaks in any event at the Summer Olympics.
The 24-year-old gained an edge in the second 50-meter leg inside the Tokyo Aquatic Center, and his second 50 meters was eight-hundredths faster than Kolesnikov to earn the advantage on the wall.
Kolesnikov broke out to a faster start than Rylov in the opening 50 meters with an advantage of six-hundredths of a second.
Rylov and Kolesnikov earned the first two medals for the Russian Olympic Committee in swimming. The ROC has 14 overall medals as of Monday night.
The Russian athletes are competing under the Russian Olympic Committee name due to a ban on Russia for its doping program in previous Olympics. The Russian flag and national anthem will not be displayed in Tokyo.
The Americans did not come up completely empty in one of their showcase events in the pool, as Murphy took third place in a time of 52.19 seconds.
Murphy did not have the speed over the last leg to catch up with the two Russian swimmers ahead of him.
The 26-year-old earned gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and he has one more chance at earning another gold in the longer discipline.
The bronze earned by Murphy was the 10th medal produced by a U.S. swimmer over the last three days.
If the Americans continue at their medal-winning pace, they could have a chance to bring in the largest haul from any single sport.
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