13-Year Old Aleksandra Sabitova Breaks Another Russian Junior Record

2017 VLADIMIR SALNIKOV SWIM CUP

• December 22nd-23rd, 2017
• 25m (SCM) pool
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• Meet Central
• Live Results

Day 2 of the 2017 Vladimir Salnikov Swim Cup saw more records being broken by 13-year old Aleksandra Sabitova and 17-year old Kliment Kolesnikov.

Sabitova’s record came in the form of a Russian Junior National Record. In the 200 fly, Sabitova swam 2:06.79, which broke the old record of 2:11.12 set by Anastasia Guzhenkova in 2013. Guzhenkova has gravitated more toward the freestyle events as she’s matured, and this summer at 20 years old was on Russia’s winning 400 free relay at the World University Games.  The senior Russian Record is a 2:04.36, set by Svetlana Chimrova in November.

That record pairs with Sabitova’s 56.84 in the 100 fly from day 1 of this meet, which was also a Russian Junior Record.

Note: Russian Junior Records are for girls aged 16 and under and boys aged 18 and under.

Also breaking a Russian, and World, Junior Record was Kliment Kolesnikov in the 200 free final. He swam 1:41.75 early in the session, which won the race by 3 seconds. That broke not only the Russian Junior Record of 1:43.58 set by Mikhail Vekovischev in 2016, but also made him the first swimmer under the FINA-set standard for the new World Junior Records being recognized in short course meters.

Watch Kolesnikov’s WJR in the 200 free:

He also won the men’s 50 backstroke in 23.18, which is about three-tenths slower than his 22.83 best from the European Championships last week. Russia hasn’t updated their records recently, but he’s now been faster than his recognized Russian Junior Record from 2016 on 7 different occasions in the last 5 weeks.

Kolesnikov skipped the 200 back, which is the event in which he placed 4th at this summer’s long course World Championship meet. In that race, Grigory Tarasevich won in 1:51.19, holding off hard finishes from Mikita Tsmyh (1:51.42) and Dmitrii Maltcev (1:51.53).

Other Day 2 Winners

• Dutch swimmer Kim Busch won the women’s 100 free in 53.33, just out-racing the Russian record holder Veronika Popova (53.40). Her countrymate, 18-year old Nyls Korstanje, won the men’s 50 free later in the session in 21.62. That’s just short of his Dutch age group record of 21.35 set at the European Championships.
• Popova later won the women’s 400 free by almost 11 seconds, touching 1st in 4:01.87.
• Natalia Ivaneeva won the women’s 50 breaststroke in 30.18. She won the 100 breaststroke on day 1 of the meet.
• Kiril Prigoda won the men’s 100 breastsroke in 57.03, with Ilya Shymanovich finishing 2nd in 57.65. For Prigoda, that completed a breaststroke sweep of the meet. 2016 Olympic champion in the 200 Dmitry Balandin of Kazakhstan took 3rd in 58.78, just missing his own national record in the event.
• Viktoria Andreeva won the women’s 200 IM in 2:10.07. That’s a second short of her season-best time set in November.
• Alexander Kharlanov won the men’s 100 fly in 50.71. Belarusian Yauhen Tsurkin finished 2nd in 50.98.
• Russian National Team captain Anastasia Fesikova won the women’s 100 backstroke by a full second, touching in 57.50. That’s the second-best time of her career and best since 2011 in the event for the 27-year old.
• Daria Chikunova won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:22.03.
• Iaroslav Potapov won the men’s 1500 free in 14:41.72.
• Ekaterina Shapanikova won the women’s 50 fly in 26.10.