<p>Russian Evgeny Rylov broke the country's barren gold medal spell in men's swimming, edging out rivals including American defending champion Ryan Murphy in a thrilling 100m backstroke race that was determined at the wall.</p>.<p>Hitting the wall with a time of 51.98 seconds, Rylov swam from an outside lane to beat fellow-Russian Kliment Kolesnikov who placed second with a time of 52.00 and Murphy who came third with 52.19.</p>.<p>It is the first time a Russian man has won a swimming gold in the Olympics since the Atlanta Games in 1996 when Alexander Popov and Denis Pankratov both topped the podium twice.</p>.<p>The 24-year old Rylov made his Olympic debut in Rio where he placed sixth in the 100m backstroke and won a bronze in the 200m backstroke.</p>.<p>Rylov, who started swimming aged six in Russia's Novotroitsk, will also race the 200m backstroke in Tokyo on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Russian athletes are competing under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at the Tokyo Olympics as part of sanctions for several doping scandals.</p>
<p>Russian Evgeny Rylov broke the country's barren gold medal spell in men's swimming, edging out rivals including American defending champion Ryan Murphy in a thrilling 100m backstroke race that was determined at the wall.</p>.<p>Hitting the wall with a time of 51.98 seconds, Rylov swam from an outside lane to beat fellow-Russian Kliment Kolesnikov who placed second with a time of 52.00 and Murphy who came third with 52.19.</p>.<p>It is the first time a Russian man has won a swimming gold in the Olympics since the Atlanta Games in 1996 when Alexander Popov and Denis Pankratov both topped the podium twice.</p>.<p>The 24-year old Rylov made his Olympic debut in Rio where he placed sixth in the 100m backstroke and won a bronze in the 200m backstroke.</p>.<p>Rylov, who started swimming aged six in Russia's Novotroitsk, will also race the 200m backstroke in Tokyo on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Russian athletes are competing under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at the Tokyo Olympics as part of sanctions for several doping scandals.</p>
