World Aquatics Championships: Duncan Scott wins 200m freestyle bronze as Sun Yang takes gold
- Published
Britain's Duncan Scott won bronze in the 200m freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships - then refused to share the podium with China's controversial gold medallist Sun Yang.
Scott, 22, finished joint fourth with Russia's Martin Malyutin but Danas Rapsys, initially declared the winner, was disqualified for a false start.
That meant Sun, who served a three-month ban in 2014 after testing positive for banned stimulant trimetazidine, won his second title of the championships in South Korea.
The 27-year-old beat Mack Horton to gold in the 400m freestyle and the Australian, who has called Sun a "drug cheat" and is unhappy he can still compete, refused to join his rival on the podium, or pose for pictures.
As a result of his protest, Horton, 23, who won 400m freestyle gold at the Rio Olympics, was warned about his conduct by the sport's governing body, Fina.
Scott and Sun were also sent a "warning letter" by Fina for their "inadequate behaviour".
"I'm team Mack," said Scott, who was called a "loser" by Sun while the pair left the pool following the medal ceremony.
"If [Sun] can't respect our sport, then why should I respect him? I think a lot of people, everyone in swimming, got behind what Mack did.
"Hopefully this will happen in more events."
Olympic silver medallist and Commonwealth champion Scott finished in one minute 45.63 seconds, with Japan's Katsuhiro Matsumoto taking silver in 1:45.22 and Sun winning in 1:44.93.
Scott added: "I'm pretty disappointed with the time but when you get to this level time goes out the window and it's about getting in the top three.
"I think [Rapsys' disqualification] it was his start, there aren't many other ways in freestyle.
"It's hard as I'm gaining off someone else's misfortune and I would have liked to have won it outright, but I'll take it."
Fellow Briton Adam Peaty qualified for the 50m breaststroke final after breezing through his semi-final.