Competing in the second lane on Tuesday, Jefimova swam the two lengths in the 50-meter pool with a time of 1:06.36, earning her sixth place in the world championship finals.

26-year-old Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte earned the world championship gold with a time of 1:04:62, with the silver going to 26-year-old South African Tatjana Schoenmaker with a time of 1:05.94 and bronze to 19-year-old American Lydia Jacoby.

This was Olympic gold medalist and current and former world record holder Meilutyte's second long course 100m breaststroke world championship gold; she won her first with a world record-setting result in Barcelona in 2013.

Jefimova placed sixth overall in the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest last year, earning the best world championship result yet of any Estonian swimmer since the restoration of its independence in 1991.

New Estonian record in semifinals

Early Monday morning, Jefimova qualified in ninth place for the semifinals with a time of 1:06.46.

Competing in the second lane in the second semifinal later that day, Jefimova set a new national record for the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:06.18, qualifying in fifth overall for the finals.

She herself had swum the previous Estonian record time of 1:06.36.

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