The race was won by world record holder Adam Peaty of the UK (26.51), silver went to Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa (26.66), while Kevin Cordes of the US took bronze (26.86).

The 27-year-old from Ravne na Koroškem failed to improve on his previous best result at world championships, coming in 2013 in Barcelona, where he finished 4th both in 50 m and 100 m breaststroke.

Dugonjić was considered a medal contender ahead of the finals as he managed the third best time in history of the discipline in the qualifiers on Tuesday, but fell half a second short from his personal and Slovenian record.

"I'm very satisfied with the fifth place, it is of course a success for me, but not with the time. I don't know what happened and why such a difference between yesterday's and today's swimming. It seemed that I had fallen behind already at the start," he told the press.

Slovenia has been waiting for a medal at world swimming championships since 1982, when Darjan Petrič won bronze in the men's 1,500 m freestyle.

His brother Borut Petrič is the only other Slovenian with a medal at world championships (silver in 1,500 m freestyle in 1978 in Berlin).