A bizarre men's 100 metres backstroke ended in a dead heat as Italy's Simone Sabbioni hit home with the exact same time as Russia's Evgeny Rylov, in 54.24sec, to see two champions crowned in the event.

China's Guangyuan Li was given the bottom step of the podium all to himself as he claimed bronze in 54.56.

More Italian success followed in the men's 200m freestyle, where Nicolangelo di Fabio ended strongly to pinch gold from under the nose of Dutch swimmer Kyle Stolk.

Lithuania's hopes of a gold here were pinned largely on the shoulders of Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte, after she set a world record in the women's 50m breaststroke in last year's World Championships.

The 17-year-old, who went to the same school as British diver Tom Daley in Plymouth, did not disappoint as she powered to a comfortable victory in 30.13.

A cool, calm and collected Ruta Meilutyte added Youth Olympic gold to her London 2012 title in Nanjing today ©Getty Images



Hungarian athletes enjoyed a rich vein of form in the pool with Liliana Sziagyi and Benjamin Gratz taking a gold apiece in the women's 200m butterfly and men's 200m individual medley respectively.

Sziagyi was truly ecstatic after her win, bellowing wild cheers of joy as the other competitors made their way back to the changing rooms.

Anton Chupkov added a second Russian gold of the evening after winning the men's 100m breaststroke in 1min 01.29sec, while Clara Smiddy brought America's gold medal tally to two with the closest of wins in the women's 100m backstroke.

The final swimming gold was arguably the most exciting, as Great Britain and China went toe-to-toe in the women's 4x100m medley relay.

Despite Britain leading for a large portion of the race, China's quartet pulled through in the final 150m, sealing the gold medal in a time of 4:03.58.

Ben Dijkstra takes triathlon gold with a photo finish victory over Daniel Hoy ©Getty Images



It was better news for Britain in the day's first gold medal event, as Ben Dijkstra secured gold in the men's triathlon with a photo finish sprint to the line.

The 15-year-old was neck-and-neck with New Zealand's Daniel Hoy all the way to the line, winning by a hair's width to take gold in 54:43.

Szabina Gercsak added to her team mates' brilliant work in the pool by winning yet another Hungarian gold in the women's under 63 kilogram judo competition.

Not to be out done by the Hungarians, Russia added further gold to their growing tally as Mikhail Igolnikov bested Georgia's Tamaz Kirakozashvili in the men's under 81kg division.

The final judo medal was picked up by Brazil's Layana Colman in the women's under 53kg category.

In the weightlifting, Rattanaphon Pakkaratha of Malaysia won women's 53kg gold, while North Korea's Jongju Pak won a first gold for his nation in the men's 62kg event.

Today's fencing competition saw both the men's and women's individual epée contests decided, with South Korea's Sinhee Lee taking gold in the women's and Hungary's Patrik Esztergalyos rounding off a superb day for his nation with gold in the men's.

There was double delight for Chinese Taipei in the taekwondo as Huai-Hsuan Huang won the women's under 49kg category and Yu-Jen Huang followed suit in the men's under 55kg, while shooting success was found by Ukraine's Pavlo Korostylov in the men's 10m air pistol.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2014: China win three gold medals on enthralling first day of action at Nanjing 2014
August 2014: Dutton takes first gold of Nanjing 2014 with women's triathlon win
August 2014: Bach urges everyone to take a "selfie" as Nanjing 2014 opens with spectacular ceremony