At the FINA Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, Estonia's Daniel Zaitsev and Canada's Ilya Kharun both swam 22.28 seconds in the semi-finals of the men's 50m butterfly, leaving them tied in eighth place overall. With only enough room for one of the two to reach the final, it came down to a swim-off between the Estonian and the Canadian to decide who would make it through.

In the swim-off, Kharun matched his semi-final time of 22.28, but Zaitsev, went one better, securing victory with a swim of 22.15 seconds, setting a new Estonian record for the event in the process.

Zaitsev had reached the semi-finals after swimming 22.41 seconds in the preliminaries. His semi-final swim of 22.28 seconds had also briefly been an Estonian record, until he bettered it in the swim-off.

The Estonian will now compete in the final of the men's 50m butterfly, which gets underway at 12.20 p.m. Estonian time on Wednesday.

During the championships, Zaitsev also took part in the 100m freestyle, finishing 29th with a time of 47.46 seconds.

Estonia's Maria Romanjuk competed in the women's 100m breaststroke, finishing in 25th place with a time of 1 minute 06.26 seconds.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!