After three days of competition at Russian Junior National Championships in Ruza, just west of Moscow, a handful of swimmers have already won gold medals in multiple individual events: Daria Gutov (50 back, 100 back, 200 back) and Daria Chikunov (50 breast, 100 breast, 200 breast) have claimed three apiece, while Olesya Chernyatin (100 free, 200 free), Vladislav Kozlov (100 fly, 100 free) and Mariana Petrova (800 free, 1500 free) have doubled.
Junior Men
Day Three began much as Day One had, with two-time gold medalist from the European Games in Baku, Vladislav Kozlov (Samara Region), rising to the top of the podium. This time it was for a victory in the 100 free, where Kozlov went 50.21 to narrowly defeat Elisha Stepanov (St. Petersburg – 1) and Dmitri Belolipetskii (Volgograd Region), at 50.38 and 50.39, respectively.
The most thrilling race came next, when the top four finishers in the 200m breast touched within .35 of each other. Arkady Grigoriev (Moscow-1) managed to get his hands to the wall first, in 2:14.09. Then, in quick succession, followed Kirill Mordashov (Penza Region) in 2:14.25, Rustam Gadir (Omsk Region) with 2:14.32, and Egor Suchkov (Saratov Region) with 2:14.44. Suchkov, the 50 breast champion, had led the field by a second at the 100; but what he gained up front he lost on the back half, as the other three all caught him over the last 50 meters.
Sergey Gulyaev (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra) led the field in the 200 back, finishing first in 2:02.92. Kirill Titov (Lipetsk Region) was close behind with 2:03.10, while Kirill Shvedov (St. Petersburg – 2) earned the bronze with 2:04.54.
In the 50 fly, Roman Shevlyak (Saint Petersburg – 1) out-touched the 100 fly champion, Vladislav Kozlov (Samara Region), 24.06 to 24.14. Mark Chernov (Moscow – 1) was third in 24.60.
St. Petersburg-1 combined for 3:24.18 to win the 4×100 free relay title behind Igor Shadrin (50.65), Vitaly Lebanin (51.48), Stepanov (49.74), and Shevlyak (52.31).
Junior Women
Olesya Chernyatin (Samara Region) followed her previous victory in the 100 free with a gold medal in the 200 free, touching in 2:02.51. Varvara Simonova earned her second silver medal of the meet with a 2:03.63 finish. Third place went to Polina Egorova (Republic of Bashkortostan) in 2:04.12. Egorova was a six-time gold medalist at European Games in Baku last month, winning the 50/100 fly, 50/100/200 back, and 4×100 free relay. Egorova later won the 50 fly in 27.19. Natalia Mozhina (Irkutsk Region) was second, while Alexandra Chesnokova (Moscow – 1) touched third in 27.98.
In the 100 back, Daria Gutov (Saratov Region) completed her backstroke triple with 1:03.48, finishing nearly a second ahead of second-place Anna Udalova (St. Petersburg-1). Daria Chikunov (St. Petersburg – 1) also picked up her third gold medal, adding the 100 breast (1:09.52) to the 50 and 200 distances she had already won. Earning a second silver was Daria Tokareva (Volgograd Region) in 1:10.98; Tokareva nearly took gold in yesterday’s 200 breast, losing by less than a second.
Mariana Petrova (Moscow – 1) won the 1500 with a commanding 17:06.23, finishing nearly 50 meters ahead of teammate Sophia Nesterova (17:28.89). Antonina Konovalova (Samara region) placed third with 17:33.79.
The Samara Region 400 free relay team of Olesya Chernyatin (58.32), Irina Krivonogova (57.47), Daria Timofeeva (59.73), and Anastasia Avdeev (58.15) capped the day with a 3:53.67 victory over Moscow-1 and St. Petersburg-1.