2023 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
The highlight of the final day of the Russian Swimming Championships was undoubtedly the performance from Evgeniia Chikunova, as the 18-year-old obliterated the world record in the women’s 200 breaststroke by nearly a second and a half in a time of 2:17.55.
Chikunova’s time knocked 1.40 seconds off the previous record of 2:18.95, set by South African Tatjana Schoenmaker at the Tokyo Olympics, and marked a massive personal best, with her previous PB sitting at 2:20.41 from last year’s Solidarity Games.
There were a number of other standout swims on the sixth and final day in Kazan, including reigning Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov recording his fastest 200 back swim in two years.
Rylov, the 2021 Olympic champion in both the men’s 100 and 200 back, put up a time of 1:55.50 to win the 200-meter event on Friday, marking his fastest swim since winning gold in Tokyo in a time of 1:53.27.
The 26-year-old moves into second in the world this season, narrowly trailing Australian Joshua Edwards-Smith (1:55.42). Rylov’s swim is also the fastest of 2023, with Edwards-Smith having produced his time in December.
| 2 | Evgeny Rylov |
RUS | 1:55.50 | 04/21 |
| 3 | Hubert Kos |
HUN | 1:55.95 | 04/15 |
| 4 | Ryan Murphy |
USA | 1:56.31 | 04/15 |
| 5 | Daniel DIEHL |
USA | 1:56.41 | 12/03 |
Rylov, also the 2017 and 2019 world champion in the 200 back, had his quickest time of 2022 come in at 1:56.98, set at this meet last year.
Aleksei Tkachev claimed the runner-up spot in a time of 1:57.20, knocking more than three-tenths off his previous best to out-touch Dmitry Savenko (1:57.21).
In the opening event of the night, Vladislav Grinev roared to victory in the men’s 100 freestyle, becoming the 10th swimmer sub-48 this season in 47.97 to rank eighth in the world (splitting 22.83/25.14).
Grinev owns a personal best time of 47.43, set in 2019.
Andrei Minakov, who has been as fast as 47.57, had the fastest back half in the field (25.07) to claim second in 48.32, while Kliment Kolesnikov rounded out the top three in 48.54.
Minakov now ranks 16th in the world this season, while Kolesnikov’s semi-final effort of 48.29 slots him into a tie for 14th.
| 2 | Matthew Richards |
GBR | 47.72 | 04/06 |
| 3 | Hwang Sunwoo |
KOR | 47.78 | 10/12 |
| 4 | Guilherme Caribe |
BRA | 47.82 | 12/09 |
| 5 | Katsuhiro Matsumoto |
JPN | 47.85 | 04/06 |
| 6 | Josh Liendo |
CAN | 47.86 | 03/31 |
| 7 | Wang Haoyu |
CHN | 47.89 | 03/19 |
| 8 | Vladislav Grinev |
RUS | 47.97 | 04/21 |
Later in the session, Kolesnikov and Grinev teamed up to produce a blistering time in the 400 medley relay for Moscow.
The quartet of Kolesnikov (52.75), Danil Semyaninov (59.23), Petr Zhikharev (50.65) and Grinev (47.47) combined for a time of 3:30.10, which is notably faster than what Great Britain swam to win bronze at last year’s World Championships by over a second (3:31.31).
In the women’s 100 fly, Svetlana Chimrova reeled off the third-fastest swim of her career and fastest in six years to claim victory in 57.34, moving into seventh in the world this season. The 27-year-old set the Russian Record of 57.17 at the 2017 Russian Nationals.
| 2 | Zhang Yufei |
CHN | 56.58 | 03/22 |
| 3 | Regan Smith |
USA | 56.60 | 03/04 |
| 4 | Louise Hansson |
SWE | 57.00 | 04/14 |
| 5 | Wang Yichun |
CHN | 57.05 | 03/22 |
| 6 | Emma McKeon |
AUS | 57.07 | 03/11 |
| 7 | Angelina Kohler |
GER | 57.22 | 04/21 |
| 8 | Svetlana Chimrova |
RUS | 57.34 | 04/21 |
Arina Surkova concluded her busy week with two more individual events on Friday, first placing second to Chimrova in the 100 fly (57.93) and then winning the 50 free in 24.58. Surkova set a best time of 24.50 in the semi-finals of the 50 free, ranking her sixth in the world this season.
Maria Kameneva, the 50 free National Record holder at 24.20, was the runner-up to Surkova in 24.97.
Also moving into the top 10 in the world this year was Aleksandr Stepanov and Kirill Martynychev, who had an exciting battle in the men’s 1500 free.
Stepanov, who delivered a Russian Record of 7:42.47 in the 800 free early in the meet, made his move with 200 meters to go, pulling away from Martynychev to earn the victory in 14:55.04, dropping more than three seconds from his previous best set last year (14:58.23).
Martynychev, who swam a personal best of 14:52.66 at the Tokyo Olympics to make the final (ultimately placing sixth in 14:55.85), was just under three seconds back for second in 14:57.90.
Stepanov now ranks ninth in the world this year, while Martynychev is 11th.
| 2 | Daniel Wiffen |
IRL | 14:34.91 | 04/14 |
| 3 | Mykhaylo Romanchuk |
UKR | 14:40.21 | 04/14 |
| 4 | Lukas Martens |
GER | 14:40.85 | 04/21 |
| 5 | Oliver Klemet |
GER | 14:45.39 | 04/21 |
| 6 | Daniel Jervis |
GBR | 14:46.95 | 04/06 |
| 7 | Sven Schwarz |
GER | 14:49.22 | 04/21 |
| 8 | Gregorio Paltrinieri |
ITA | 14:49.02 | 04/17 |
| 9 | Alexander Stepanov |
RUS | 14:55.04 | 04/21 |
| 10 | Carlos Garach |
ESP | 14:57.27 | 03/29 |
| 11 | Kirill Martynychev |
RUS | 14:57.90 | 04/21 |
OTHER EVENTS
- Aleksandr Kudashev (1:55.68) held off Aleksandr Kharlanov (1:55.80) to earn a win in the men’s 200 fly, leaning on his early speed to get the job done. Kharlanov was nearly two seconds back of Kudashev at the halfway mark, but threw down a 29.12 split on the third 50 to pull within four-tenths of the lead. Kudashev owns a PB of 1:54.56 from last year, while Kharlanov’s performance on Friday marked a new best by a full second.
- Anna Egorova (1:58.63) got the job done in the women’s 200 free over Daria Trofimova (1:58.71), as the 800 free winner gets the better of the 100 free champion.
- Current world #1 Ilya Shymanovich won the men’s 50 breast in a time of 26.73, having established a Belarusian Record of 26.28 to rank #2 all-time at the Belarus Open earlier this month. Russia’s Andrey Nikolaev was second in 26.86, just shy of his semi-final performance (26.84) which ranks him fourth in the world this season.
- Shymanovich added a 58.30 breast split on Belarus’ 400 medley relay, while Kirill Prigoda was also sub-59 in 58.89 for Saint Petersburg.
- At the end of the session, Chikunova was back in action in the women’s 400 medley relay, splitting 1:05.09 on breast to team up with Eggi Vlada (1:01.18), Svetlana Chimrova (58.19) and Daria Ustinova (55.35) to earn Saint Petersburg the victory in 3:59.81.
