2021 RUSSIAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- April 3-9, 2021
- Palace of Water Sports, Kazan, Russia
- Prelims: 9:00 am local/2:00 am Eastern, Finals: 6:00 pm local/11:00 am Eastern
- LCM (50m)
- Russian Olympic Qualification Procedures
- Meet Central
- Start Lists/Results
- Live Stream (YouTube channel)
Several smaller countries have athletes competing at the 2021 Russian Olympic Trials in Kazan, as the swimmers look to establish qualifying times in order to compete at the upcoming Olympic Games.
Belarus’ Alina Zmushka did just that during Wednesday night’s finals session in the women’s 200 breaststroke, breaking her own National Record while also getting under the FINA ‘A’ cut.
Zmushka, who lowered her Belarusian Record in the 100 breast earlier in the meet, clocked 2:24.33 in the 200 breast semi-finals to take out her previous record of 2:25.93, set this past February at the Latvian Open. The time also puts Zmushka under the FINA ‘A’ standard of 2:25.52, which should punch her ticket to the 2021 Olympic Games.
Also setting National Records over the last couple of days in Kazan were Kyrgyzstan’s Denis Petrashov in the men’s 200 breast, Cuba’s Luis Vega in the men’s 200 fly, and Latvia’s Arina Baikova in the women’s 1500 free. You can read more on Petrashov’s swim here.
Vega posted a time of 1:58.58 in the 200 fly semis, lowering his previous record of 1:59.23 set in July 2018. That swim puts him well under the FINA ‘B’ cut of 1:59.97. Vega, 22, followed up by clocking 1:59.68 in the final to place sixth overall.
In the women’s mile, Baikova posted a time of 17:27.28 in the prelims, erasing the previous mark of 17:35.33, set by Krista Ceplīte in 2013. Per SwimRankings, this was the first 1500 of her career. She then went 17:32.36 in the final to finish seventh.