Olympic swimmers Ryan Murphy, Blake Pieroni and Olivia Smoliga won their first individual short-course world titles in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday.
Murphy, who swept the Rio backstrokes, led off by edging Chinese rival Xu Jiayu by .03 in the 100m back. Xu had relegated Murphy to bronze at the 2017 World Championships in the standard Olympic-size pool.
Smoliga upset Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu and world-record holder Kathleen Baker in the women’s 100m back touching .07 ahead of the Hungarian superstar. Baker was fifth.
Pieroni, a veteran U.