Jefimova, 17, dove into the pool Saturday morning for the 50-meter breaststroke, having triumphed over this distance last weekend in Finland, putting in a time of 30.35.

In the preliminary heats, she similarly showed a strong performance, with a time of 30.66 confidently placing her first into the final.

Jefimova, whose 30.08 is the current domestic record, said: "Technically, things didn't go as well as they could have," after the heats. "In the final, I'll try to change my body position so as to swim higher on the water, and then I believe my time should be considerably faster."

Following Jefimova in the heats were Sophie Hansson, who has won ten championship medals (30.91), and Finnish swimmer Ida Hulkko (31.08).

Maria Romanjuk will also swim in the final this evening, having set a new PB of 31.54, which earned her the fifth seed for the final.

Meanwhile, in the men's 100-meter butterfly, three Estonians made it to the final. The strongest performance was shown by Estonian record holder Alex Ahtiainen, who swam a new Estonian season winner of 52.57, qualifying second for the final.

Ahtiainen said: "The first 75 meters went according to plan, but the last 15-20 meters were very tough."

"Tonight, I see some margin coming at the start, so I need to endure that to end better," Ahtiainen, who holds the 52.18, went on.

Daniel Zaitsev, who showed good speed in the 50-meter butterfly on Friday, came fourth in the preliminary rounds of the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 52.93.

Zaitsev's best time is 52.23, which he managed at the same venue two years ago.

Kregor Zirk entered the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly, heats Saturday, qualifying for the final in both distances. He started first in the 200 meters, then conserved his energy and going into the final with the fifth seed.

Zirk, who touched the wall with a time of 1:51.66 in the 200-meter freestyle, said: "I can control my speed quite well, and as with yesterday's 400-meter freestyle, I didn't have to give it my all in the morning."

"Tonight, there will definitely be a good fight with [Lithuanian World Championship silver medalist] Danas [Rapšys], so then we'll see what time I'm currently capable of."

Zirk, 24, then squeezed into the final as the last qualifier, or eighth, in the 100-meter butterfly, where a time of 54.11 was sufficient to secure a spot for the evening swim.

In the men's 50-meter backstroke evening final, Alan Smok is also to compete, having posted a time of 26.50 in the morning, good enough for sixth place.

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