Warsaw, Dec 9 (TIWN) Poland's swimmers beat Italy and Russia to win a surprise gold medal in the women's 4x50m medley relay at European Short Course Championships in Glasgow.

Consisting of Alicja Tchorz, Dominika Sztandera, Kornelia Fiedkiewicz and Katarzyna Wasick, the Polish team had advanced to the final after finishing fourth in the preliminary round, and had not been considered among the favourites to win the race, reports Xinhua news agency.  Poland were behind Italy and France with 50 meters to go, but made an outstanding finish to win the race in 1:44.85 followed by Italy (+ 0.07) and Russia (+ 0.11) late on Sunday.  Sunday was the last day of the European Short Course Championships. Poland won two gold, one silver and two bronze medal to sit seventh in the final classification. Russia topped the table with 22 medals, followed by Italy and the Netherlands.