The Russian Swimming Federation (RSF) star started the evening by defending his men’s 100 metres individual medley crown before powering to victory in the men's 50m backstroke.

It was the 21-year-old’s third title of this year’s World Championships after helping the RSF triumph in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay on the opening night.

His success here is capping a superb year, in which he has collected three European titles before earning two medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

In a tight men’s 100m individual medley final, Kolesnikov led Italy's Thomas Ceccon at the halfway point.

His lead was cut as Ceccon and Tomoe Hvas of Norway launched an attack in the final few metres, but Kolesnikov held on to win in 51.09sec, with Hvas and Ceccon registering times of 51.35 and 51.40 respectively to seal their places on the podium.

Kolesnikov enjoyed further success in the men's 50m backstroke when he overcame Germany’s Christian Diener in a thrilling final.

The German looked stronger over the first 25m and almost clinched victory, only for Kolesnikov to snatch gold in 22.66.

Diener and Lorenzo Mora of Italy were tied for second in 22.90 as Pavel Samusenko of the RSF missed out on a medal.

Russian athletes are competing as the RSF in Abu Dhabi, as part of sanctions imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency against Russia in December 2018 in connection with the manipulation of data from the Moscow Laboratory.

Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel and China's Li Bingjie both claimed their second individual gold medals of the tournament.

Boosted by her success in the women’s 50m breaststroke title, Gorbenko appeared to be on the crest of a wave as she won the women's 100m individual medley.

Mariia Kameneva of the RSF led the way after the first two laps with Gorbenko and France's Beryl Gastaldello both poised to attack the second half of the race in second and third respectively.

Gorbenko then dug deep to overhaul Kameneva in the final lap before touching the wall first in 57.80.

Gastaldello claimed silver in 57.96 as Kameneva dropped to third position in 58.15.

All eyes were on Hong Kong’s Siobhán Haughey's in the women’s 400m freestyle final as she looked to add to her 100m and 200m crowns in the discipline, but it was Li who made the stronger start as she led over the first 100m.

The Chinese swimmer - who won yesterday's 800m freestyle title - moved almost a second ahead of Haughey at the halfway stage.

Summer McIntosh, the 15-year-old Canadian, moved into second position as she tried to reel in Li in the final 100m, but there was no stopping Li, who cruised to victory in a time of 3:55.83.

McIntosh came second in 2:57.87 with Haughey taking bronze in 3:58.12.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of The Netherlands defeated Sarah Sjöström in a much-anticipated women's 50m butterfly showdown to claim gold in a championship record time.

The Dutch swimmer proved too strong for Sjöström in the final 25m as she finished in 24.44 - beating her own record by 0.03.

Sjöström came second in 24.51 with Claire Curzan of the United States setting a world junior record in 24.55 to seal bronze.

In another mouth-watering duel, Britain's Ben Proud got the better of Ryan Held of the US to claim the men's 50m freestyle title.

The two swimmers battled it out but Proud always had the edge as he led at the first 25m before coming home to secure victory in 20.45.

Held bagged silver in 20.70 with Canada's Joshua Liendo Edwards swooping in for bronze in 20.76.

Italy came from behind with a stunning last leg to capture the men's 4x50m freestyle relay title.

The US held the lead for the first two legs as they aimed to defend their crown before the RSF moved ahead.

Several nations were in contention for gold, but Italy hit the wall first in 1:23.61.

The RSF came second in 1:23.71, with The Netherlands claiming bronze in 1:23.78 as the US were denied a place on the podium.

The US, however, proved untouchable as they secured the men's 4x200m freestyle relay crown in dominant fashion.

Kieran Smith sent the victors on their way before Trenton Julian and Carson Foster pushed them further in front.

The US were over a second under the world record pace as Held exchanged with Foster for the final leg.

With the US in a class of their own, Ivan Girev of the RSF and Breno Correia of Brazil battled it out for second.

Held was unable to help the US deliver a world record but they won in 6.47.00, while the RSF came second in 6.49.12 and Brazil finished third in 6:49.60.

Competition continues tomorrow.