Frenchmen tie for swim championships gold

SHANGHAI, July 26 (UPI) -- French swimmers Camille Lacourt and Jeremy Stravius tied for the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke Tuesday at the FINA World Swimming Championships.

Lacourt and Stravius both touched in 52.76 seconds, with Japanese swimmer Ryosuke Irie third in 52.98.

It was the first time swimmers from the same country shared a medal at the world championships and also the first time a French male swimmer won a gold at the event.

American Ryan Lochte won the men's 200-meter freestyle by passing Michael Phelps on the final turn. His time was 1 minute, 44.44 seconds, about one-third of a second ahead of Phelps, who finished second. German Paul Biedermann (1:44.88) was third.

U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni defended her world title in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:05.05. Australian Leisel Jones was well behind at 1:06.25 for second place. Chinese swimmer Ji Liping (1:06.52) took the bronze medal.

China's Zhao Jing won the 100-meter backstroke. She was fifth at the halfway point but charged in and took first in 59.05 seconds, just ahead of Russian Anastasia Zueva (59.06) with American Natalie Coughlin (59.15) third.

Dane Litte Friis won the 1,500-meter freestyle in 15:49.59.American Kate Zeigler (15:55.60) took second and China's Li Zuanxi (15:58.02) was third.