Russian-born 200 breaststroke world record holder Anton Chupkov sat down with Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti to discuss where he stands with the sport given the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Among his commentary, the 23-year old says that he probably would have retired if the Tokyo Olympics had happened in 2020.
- Read RIA Novosti’s coverage of the interview here.
Chupkov was set to make his second Olympic performance in the summer of 2020, following up on his 2016 performance wherein he took bronze in the 200 breaststroke swimming a 2:07.70. He moved up to gold in the following year when he won the event at the 2017 World Swimming Championships lowering his time to a 2:06.96.
Last year Chupkov repeated as World Champion at Gwangju 2019 when he took gold in world record fashion with a 2:06.12. Chupkov was positioned as a strong contender for Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 and has retained that status throughout the 2020/2021 season. At the recent 2020 Russian Swimming Championships, Chupkov swam a season-best of 2:07.32. That puts him in second place in the world in that event this season, only behind Japanese Shomo Sato’s 2:07.02.
In the interview, Chupkov mentioned Sato as one of the many in the field contributing to the high level of competition. He estimated that roughly ten people in the world will be able to crack the 2:07 mark next year.
He went on to say that with the high caliber of competition comes the ability for everyone to get faster in the event (and added that he hopes this will benefit him the most).
Chupkov also shared his initial reaction back in April to the news that the Olympics had been pushed back by a year. When asked if he was stressed when the news came out, he explained that rather than stress, he felt more upset than anything.
When asked where he would be today had the Olympics gone ahead as planned, Chupkov admitted that he may very well be retired from the sport by now. In reality, though, Chupkov intends to continue with the sport at least until after the 2021 Games. He says that when the time comes to retire, he looks forward to moving on to the next stage of his life.
When asked what that next stage will entail, he shared that he has thought about using his university education to pursue a career in the government or perhaps will go back to school.
With tentative plans for the future, Chupkov remains as one of the world’s greatest breaststrokers for now. With mere months to go before the 2021 Olympic Games planned start date, Chupkov has plans to focus on his training and minimize his risk of error.
Chupkov will vie for his spot on the Olympic squad next year at the 2021 Russian Olympic Trials from April 3-9, 2021.
I don’t think the probability of him actually retiring is very high after reading the full interview with auto translation. His words about retirement and possible future plans are just vague. And he does say there are chances that he just take a break and then come back.
He achieved a beautiful stroke , template racing strategy , World Champs World records . With no Olympics a possibility he will do a Gala Russia meet in April , take the summer off ; move on .
Whichever path he ends up choosing, I wish him noting but the best. He always seemed like a very humble kid and apart from the Olympic title he has achieved everything there is to achieve in the sport. The sport would certainly miss him.
Wut