Anastasia Zueva won the women's 50m backstroke final to gift Russia the first swimming gold at the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai on Thursday.

The 21-year-old Zueva, who ranked first in the semifinal, beat the host's favourite Gao Chang and finished in a winning time of 27.79 seconds.

It was the first swimming gold for Russia after their synchronized swimmers had won all the seven events in Shanghai.

The silver medal was taken by Aya Terakawa of Japan at 27.93 and the bronze medal went to Melissa Franklin of the United States at 28.01.

China's Gao, the Asiad champion of the discipline, finished fourth in 28.06. She was the bronze medalist in the last Championships in Rome.