Chikunova’s 2:19.74 200 Breast & Lifintsev’s 52.52 100 Back Close Out Russian Championships

2024 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• April 14-19, 2024
• Kazan, Russia
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• Livestream
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Day 3 Recap
• Day 4 Recap
• Day 5 Recap

The 2024 Russian Swimming Championships have officially come to a close. The final night of swimming in Kazan was filled with nine individual finals: the women’s 200 breaststroke, men’s 100 freestyle, women’s 100 butterfly, men’s 50 breaststroke, men’s 200 backstroke, women’s 50 freestyle, men’s 200 butterfly, women’s 200 freestyle, and men’s 1500 freestyle.

After winning the 100 breaststroke earlier in the week with a world-leading time, 19-year-old star Evgeniia Chikunova doubled up on golds in the 200m distance. She split 32.47 on the first 50 before holding times in the 35-second sector for the remaining three lengths: 35.66, 35.96, and 35.65. She logged a final time of 2:19.74 to rank 3rd in the world standings so far this season.

Reigning Olympic Champion and former world record holder, Tatjana Smith (nee Schoenmaker), leads the world with her 2:19.01 clocking from the South African Trials. American Kate Douglass (2:19.30) sits in 2nd while 2024 World Champion Tes Schouten (2:19.81) is the only sub-2:20 swimmer at 4th.

At this meet last year, Chikunova completely obliterated Schoenmaker’s world record by 1.4 seconds with a time of 2:17.55. That world record still stands as we head in the Olympic Games, and Chikunova has stated that she will not be attending under the current cirumstances.

The men’s 100 freestyle was a great race that included the three fastest performers in Russian History. Young gun Egor Kornev stamped his control on the race though, as he was the only swimmer to break 48 seconds. He touched the wall in 47.82 to win and set a new lifetime best. His previous career best was set just days ago when he helped St. Petersburg win the 4×100 free relay gold medal. He led-off the victorious relay in 47.87, so he undercut that mark by 0.05 tonight.

National record holder Kliment Kolesnikov was fastest through the first 50 at 22.52, but he ended up fading through the final 25 meters. It was Andrei Minakov who put his hand on the wall for silver, highlighted by his swift 24.58 closing split. Minakov was 6th at the 50m turn in 23.51.

Kolesnikov ultimately finished 4th with a respectable 48.17, but his best time stills rests at 47.11 from the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. Vladislav Grinev finished between Minakov and Kolesnikov for bronze with his 48.14 outing. Grinev has been as quick as 47.43 in the event back at the 2019 Russian Championships.

See a full splits comparison from the race below, which showcases how each of the top four athletes approached the race different.

Splits Comparison:

The men’s 50 breast title went to Andrei Nikolaev who touched the wall in 26.86, which was slight improvement on his semifinal performance of 26.90. 200 breast winner Kirill Prigoda dropped down to 26.93 for 2nd place, a large jump from his 27.34 swim from last night. 50 fly national record holder Oleg Kostin (26.98) and 25-year-old Ivan Kozhakin (26.99) also dipped under 27 seconds. Kozhakin hit a lifetime best of 26.93 in the semifinals while Kostin’s time was his first ever under 27. Nikolaev (26.66) and Prigoda (26.72) have both been faster in the past.

Arina Surkova was a two-time winner on the night, as she bagged national titles in the 100 fly and 50 free. Her first win was in the 100 fly, where she stopped the clock in 57.53 to erase her previous career-best (57.54) from April of 2021. In the 50 free, she touched-out national record holder Maria Kameneva by 0.01 for 1st in 24.50. Surkova was a slightly faster 24.34 in last night’s semifinals.

On Wednesday, Surkova notched a 25.39 in the women’s 50 fly to win her first gold of the meet. It was just outside her national record (25.30) from April of 2023. With her two swims tonight, she will leave Kazan was a three-time winner.

A notable result was posted in the men’s 4×100 medley relay, where the St. Petersburg quartet of Miron Lifintsev (52.52), Kirill Prigoda (58.50), Roman Shevlyakov (50.71) and Egor Kornev (47.86) recorded a time of 3:29.59. Lifintsev broke the 100m back World Junior record (52.33) earlier in the week, but his lead-off split tonight represents the 2nd fastest junior time ever. St. Petersburg had the fastest relay splits for all legs except butterfly, as Tatarstan’s Andrei Minakov (50.61) was marginally faster.

Splits Comparison:

Other Results:

• 2021 Olympic Champion Evgeny Rylov (1:55.83) had to settle for bronze in the men’s 200 back, as he was upstaged by Dmitry Savenko (1:55.60) and Alexey Tkachev (1:55.80).
• Alexander Kharlanov (1:55.77) finished just 0.16 ahead of Alexander Kudashev (1:55.93) for 1st place in the men’s 200 butterfly. Kharlanov used a strong final 100 split of 59.79 to power ahead of front halfer Kudashev.
• Anna Egorova was golden in the women’s 200 free, as she split 28.27 on the first 50 before showcasing extremely consistent times on the final three 50s: 30.26, 30.29, and 30.01. Her final time of 1:58.82 was the only sub-1:59 clocking of the night.
• 19-year-old Savely Luzin punched 15:07.10 en route to winning the men’s 1500 free. He turned through 800m at 8:00.12 before holding 30.6-30.8 for most of the remaining 50s.