Yesterday Kolesnikov became the first man to break 24 seconds in the event when he finished his semi-final at the Duna Arena in 23.93, and today he lowered the mark again to 23.80.

Kolesnikov was 0.62 ahead of his closest rival Robert Andrei-Glinta of Romania who finished in 24.42, with the podium completed by Gonzalez De Oliveira of Spain in 24.47.

In the absence of Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, a dramatic women’s 100m butterfly saw a tie for the gold medal between Anna Ntountounaki of Greece and Marie Wattel of France who both finished in 57.37.

Ntountounaki had the narrowest of leads at the halfway stage of the race, turning in 30.48 compared to Wattel’s 30.49 but nothing could split the pair as they touched the wall at the end of the race.

The podium was completed by Louise Hansson of Sweden in 57.56.

Britain’s Adam Peaty broke the 58 second barrier once again as he claimed gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke in 57.66sec.

Silver went to Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands in 58.10 with Peaty’s compatriot James Wilby taking bronze in 58.58.

In the women’s 800 metres freestyle, Italy’s Simona Quadarella retained her title as she claimed victory in 8min 20.23sec.

Russia completed the podium, with silver going to Anastasia Kirpichnikova in 8:21.26, and bronze won by Anna Egorova who was more than six seconds behind her compatriot in 8:26.56.

In the women’s 50m freestyle gold went to Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands in 23.97.

Behind Kromowidjojo there was a tie for the silver medal with Pernille Blume of Denmark and Katarzyna Wasick of Poland both finishing in 24.17 – the third tie for a medal at the Championships in the first two days.

The final event of the night was the mixed 4x200m freestyle final, a discipline only contested at the European Championships over the long course.

After winning the women’s 4x100m free relay, Britain claimed the second relay gold of the event as their team of Thomas Dean, James Guy, Freya Anderson and Abbie Wood won in 7:26.67.

Silver went to Italy’s quartet of Stefano Ballo, Stefano Di Cola, Federica Pellegrini and Margherita Panziera in 7:29.35 with bronze to Russia’s team of Aleksandr Shchegolev, Alexander Krasnykh, Anna Egorova and Anastasia Kirpichnikova in 7:31.54.   

Action is taking place behind closed doors in Budapest due to the coronavirus pandemic, and competition is set to continue tomorrow with six more finals on the schedule.