Italy's Chiara Della Corte finished second, 0.89 seconds behind Jefimova, with Schastine Skifter Tabor of Denmark in third (+0.90). In the other semi-final, Poland's Karolina Piechowicz swam the best time (31.44), but she was also almost a second slower than Jefimova (+0.85).

In the men's 50m breaststroke, Ralf Roose also reached the final with a new Estonian junior record of 28.12 seconds.

It was the second time during the competition that Roose had broken the Estonian junior record, after swimming 28.56 seconds in the preliminary round to reach the semis.

Roose's semi-final time of 28.12, put him in eighth place overall, which was enough for the Estonian to reach the final. Koen de Groot of the Netherlands was the fastest semi-finalist with a time of 27.61 seconds.

Both finals will take place on Wednesday, where Jefimova in particular will be optimistic of success. The women's final is due to get underway at 18:03 Estonian time and the men's at 18:08.

Elsewhere at the championships, Artur Tobler reached the semi-finals of the men's 50 meter backstroke, finishing 16th overall in a time of 26.83, meaning he missed out on a place in the final.

Before the semi-finals:

Yefimova, who is only 15 years old, swam a time of 30.50 in the preliminaries, making the Estonian by far the fastest in the round, with Ukrainian swimmer Kamila Isayeva as much as a second slower than the Estonian.

Ekaterina Vorontsova, also competed for Estonia in the preliminaries, recording in a time of 33.53, but failing to advance to the semi-finals.

During the championships, Yefimova will also compete in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, in addition to the 50m.

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