Svetlana Chimrova stole the show at the Russian National Championships which were held in Moscow from June 16th-20th. The 17 year old set a Russian National Record in the 100 butterfly winning the event in a time of 58.22 and followed that up by winning the 50 butterfly in a time of 26.45, only 12 one-hundredths of a second over the Russian National Record which she set in April.
15 year old Daria Ustinova and Chimrova were the only two female swimmers to post times that register amongst the top 10 times in the world. Ustinova won the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:09.22, which is off her season’s best of 2:08.39. She also won the 50 backstroke in a time of 28.77.
Viktoriya Andreeva and Veronika Popova battled in both the 200 freestyle and 200 IM with Andreeva winning both events by a slim margin. Andreeva won the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:58.88 and the 200 IM in a time of 2:14.42. Popova finished second in both races recording a 1:58.95 in the 200 freestyle and a 2:14.42 in the IM.
Popova was victorious in the 100 freestyle posting a time of 54.69.
Elizaveta Bazarova and Elena Sokolova both swam times that are the fastest posted by Russian women this year. Bazarova won the women’s 50 freestyle in a time of 25.12 while Sokolva won the 400 freestyle in a time of 4:12.88.
In the men’s competition Vyacheslav Sinkevich, who is currently the fastest man in the world in the 200 breaststroke having swum a time of 2:08.62 earlier this year, was the only male to record a world’s top 10 time. Sinkevich won the 200 breaststroke posting a time of 2:10.76 which is the 9th fastest time swum in the world this year.
Nikita Konovalov, who currently ranks ninth in the world in the 100 butterfly, won the 50 butterfly in a time of 23.49, which is six one-hundredths of a second outside the world’s top ten and was also victorious in the 100 butterfly finishing in a time of 52.37.
Alexander Tikhonov was impressive, taking almost five seconds off his season’s best, winning the men’s 200 IM in a time of 2:00.73. Tikhonov’s time is the fastest time swum by a Russian this year.
Full results can be found here
Veronika Popova could be really, really good, but she needs to pick something and specialize. She swims the 50/100/200 free, the 100/200 fly and the 200 IM. She’s 22, not 15. It’s time to figure it out already.
Josh, I couldn’t agree more.
World Cup would be better place to acquire experience in racing, and get even paid for that. World Championships is about pride and glory. I just hope Hosszu doesn’t make anything unwise.
Oh, sorry Josh, you meant of course Popova’s schedule at Russian Nationals. Anyway, I still agree with you. It’s not easy to get the best out of you unless you sharpen your focus.
Is Vlad competing at both World University Games, and World Championships? That’s what I’ve heard, but in the past the double taper has worked well for him.
Is Morozov at this meet?
As far as I know none of the US-based Russian swimmers are competing there.
Russia has good youngsters fot the next years.
And for the next years we have here in France a 12-year-old girl named Léana Almeida who breaks many youth national records. Recently she has swum 27.99 in the 50 free, 32.86 in the 50 back and 30.06 in the 50 fly. Ok, when I compare with the USA NAG records it’s a little weak but she’s promising.
This comment got me intrigued and I looked into some British age group records as it is something I’ve never really done, and I was shocked. Amelia Maughan (who swam 56.0 at 14 and has not really improved) swum 26.8 when she was 12, that’s quite special. I hope she can find herself again in the future, however unlikely.
I just hope the swimmers have sense enough to now stay far, far away from Russia’s troubled track & field programs and their easier ways to glory. Seems like the Russians have generally run a pretty clean program up until a recent cluster of doping positives, and I’m hoping that isn’t a sign of things to come from the athletes.