Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova Smashes Women’s 200 Breast World Record In 2:17.55

2023 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Rising star Evgeniia Chikunova absolutely obliterated the world record in the women’s 200 breaststroke on the final night of action at the Russian Swimming Championships in Kazan, putting up a time of 2:17.55 to dismantle the previous mark of 2:18.95.

The old world record, set by South African Tatjana Schoenmaker at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, marked the lone swim in history under the 2:19 barrier, and there had only been 16 swims sub-2:20 before Chikunova unbelievably surpasses the 2:18 threshold by a relatively wide margin.

The 18-year-old drops nearly three seconds off her previous personal best, which stood at 2:20.41 from Russia’s Solidarity Games in July 2022.

Chikunova’s closing splits were absolutely deadly—particularly the final 50. One one-hundredth under world record pace at the final, turn, she out-split Schoenmaker by 1.39 seconds coming home.

Split Comparison

RACE VIDEO

Chikunova has been on good form all week, first resetting her best time in the 50 breast (30.54) before becoming the eighth woman to break 1:05 in the 100 breast in 1:04.92.

The 200 has always been her specialty, however, as she finished fourth in her Olympic debut in Tokyo, clocking 2:20.88 to fall .04 shy of the bronze medal.

In this morning’s prelims of the 200 breast, she split 1:10.14/1:12.05 en route to a seemingly-effortless time of 2:22.19, indicating she had something big in store for the final.

This past November, Chikunova narrowly missed the world record in the SCM 200 breast, clocking 2:14.70 to break the European Record and come within 13 one-hundredths of the all-time mark established by Rebecca Soni in 2009.

In addition to the world record, Chikunova’s effort on Friday also gives her the European Record in the LCM event, lowering the 2:19.11 mark established by Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen in 2013, and takes the Russian Record of 2:19.41 set by Yuliya Efimova 10 years ago off the books as well.

All-Time Performers, Women’s 200 Breaststroke (LCM)

1. Evgeniia Chikunova (RUS), 2:17.55 – 2023 Russian Championships
2. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:18.95– Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
3. Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2:19.11 – 2013 World Championships
4. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 2:19.41 – 2013 World Championships
5. Rebecca Soni (USA), 2:19.59 – 2012 Olympic Games
6. Viktoria Gunes (TUR), 2:19.64 – 2015 World Junior Championships
7. Rie Kaneto (JPN), 2:19.65 – 2016 Japanese Nationals
8. Lilly King (USA), 2:19.92 – Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
9. Annamay Pierse (CAN), 2:20.12 – 2009 World Championships
10. Leisel Jones (AUS), 2:20.54 – 2006 Australian Commonwealth Trials

One of the most mind-boggling stats to figure is that Chikunova was nearly five seconds faster than what Lilly King went to win the 2022 world title last year (2:22.41).

Chikunova’s swim is over three and a half seconds faster than the quickest time we saw in all of 2022, King’s 2:21.19 at U.S. Trials, and ranks her first in the world this season by over four and a half seconds.

Looking at the fastest performances in history, Moller Pedersen and Efimova went on an absolute demolition derby in the 200 breast in 2013 and 2014, combining to produce more than half (nine of 17) of the sub-2:20 swims in history.

All-Time Performances, Women’s 200 Breaststroke (LCM)

1. Evgeniia Chikunova (RUS), 2:17.55 – 2023 Russian Championships
2. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:18.95– Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
3. Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2:19.11 – 2013 World Championships
4. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:19.16– Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
5. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:19.33– Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
6. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 2:19.41 – 2013 World Championships
7. Rebecca Soni (USA), 2:19.59 – 2012 Olympic Games
8. Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2:19.61 – 2014 Eindhoven Swim Cup
9. Viktoria Gunes (TUR) / Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 2:19.64 – 2015 World Junior Championships / 2017 World Championships
10. –
11. Rie Kaneto (JPN), 2:19.65 – 2016 Japanese Nationals
12. Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2:19.67 – 2014 Mare Nostrum – Canet
13. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 2:19.83 – 2017 Mare Nostrum – Barcelona
14. Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2:19.84 – 2014 European Championships
15. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 2:19.85 – 2013 World Championships
16. Lilly King (USA), 2:19.92 – Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
17. Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2:19.94 – 2014 Danish Open
18. Rebecca Soni (USA), 2:20.00 – 2012 Olympic Games
19. Rie Kaneto (JPN), 2:20.04 – 2016 Super Series Perth
20. Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN), 2:20.08– 2013 World Championships

In 2022, World Aquatics told SwimSwam that records set by Russian and Belarusian would officially count, provided all of the required criteria were met, as they were never barred from swimming but rather uninvited to competitions.

World Aquatics’ restriction on Russian and Belarusian athletes remains in effect. The World Aquatics Bureau is set to discuss it in July, which will leave Russian and Belarusians out of this summer’s World Championships.

Chikunova’s performance marks the fourth female long course world record we’ve seen in the past six weeks, as Australian Kaylee McKeown set a new 200 back mark (2:03.14) in early March and then Summer McIntosh set a pair of world records in the 400 free (3:56.08) and 400 IM (4:25.87) at the Canadian Trials three weeks later.