2016 RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS / OLYMPIC TRIALS
- April 16-23rd, 2016
- Moscow, Russia
- Prelims 09:00/Finals 18:00 Local Time
- Prelims 02:00/Finals 11:00 U.S. Eastern Time
- Live results (IN ENGLISH – including event-by-event start lists)
- Live stream
- Russian selection criteria
After a quiet prelims session, it’s going to take some energy in Moscow to get anybody under the Russian qualifying times on day 1 of the 2016 Championships and Olympic Trials. The day is not full of Russia’s focus events, and the semi-finals of the women’s 100 fly and men’s 100 breaststroke are the day’s most interesting races.
MEN’S 400 IM – FINALS
- Russian Record: Andrey Krylov, 4:13.14, 2009
- Russian Selection Time: 4:15.45
- Top 3 Finishers
- Semen Makovich, Samara Region, 4:17.57
- Alexander Osipenko, Moscow City, 4:18.01
- Alexander Tikhonov, Moscow City, 4:20.53
Both Semen Makovich and Alexander Osipenko swere slower than their times from last years World Championships, which means both swimmers were well outside of the Olympic qualifying standard.
Makovich charged out hard in this race, splitting 56.7 after the fly leg, but paid for it on his backstroke and breaststroke swims. Those two races combined to be two-and-a-half seconds slower than what he split when he did his best time in the event in 2014.
Osipenko fell well-behind on the backstroke leg, but that’s his weakest stroke and wasn’t unexpected. He was able to claw-back some ground on the breaststroke and freestyle legs, but a closing kick that had him finish in a top-notch 28.75 split wasn’t enough to catch Makovich at the touch.
WOMEN’S 100 FLY – Semi-Finals
- Russian Record: Svetlana Chimrova, 57.82, 2016
- Russian Selection Time: 58.31
It was a tall-task for Svetalna Chimrova to earn a spot on the Russian Olympic Team in the 100 fly. Coming into the season, she would need to basically break her 2013 Russian Record to earn a spot to Rio in this event, but not only did she do that once in Stockholm in March, she’s done it again with a 57.91 in the women’s 100 fly semi-final.
That’s the second-fastest time of her career and her second time faster than 58 seconds in the event. After stalling-out in the event for three years, the 20-year old Chimrova has returned to her old form and is well out in front of her Russian compatriots, thanks largely to improved front-half speed. In Stockholm, she opened in 26.5, and in Moscow on Saturday, she was at 26.9.
Natalia Lovtcova qualified 2nd to the final in 59.01, and Viktoria Andreeva was 3rd in 59.07.
Top 8 Qualifiers to Finals:
- Svetlana Chimrova, Moscow City, 57.91
- Vatalia Lovtcova, Novosibirsk Region, 59.01
- Viktoria Andreeva, Penza Region, 59.07
- Daria Tcvetkova, Altai Territory, 59.70
- Polina Egorova, Bashkortostan, 59.79
- Ekaterina Shapanikova, St. Petersburg, 1:00.01
- Anastasia Guzenkova, Samara Region, 1:00.15
- Anastasia Lyazeva, St. Petersburg, 1:00.26
MEN’S 400 FREE – Finals
- Russian Record: Nikita Lobintsev, 3:43.45, 2008
- Russian Selection Standard: 3:48.27
- Podium:
- Aleksandr Krasnykh, Tatarstan, 3:47.30* (Olympic qualifier)
- Viacheslav Andrusenko, St. Petersburg, 3:49.24
- Alexander Fedorov, St. Petersburg, 3:49.24
In the second men’s event final of the day, Tatar Aleksandr Krasnykh shocked to blow through the Olympic qualifying standard with a 3:47.30. That’s a new lifetime-best for him by 2.7 seconds, and the first time he’s ever been sub-3:50 in the event.
Krasnykh, who is 21-years old, was a controlled 1:54.6 on his opening 200 meters, but actually negative-split this race by going 1:52.63 on his back 200 meters.
Viacheslav Andrusenko also swam a lifetime best in the race, going 3:49.24 to take 2nd place. He did miss the Russian Selection criteria for the Olympics, however.
WOMEN’S 400 IM – Finals
- Russian Record: Yana Martynova, 4:36.25, 2008
- Russian Selection Standard: 4:39.13
- Podium:
- Kristina Vershinina, KHMAO-Yugra, 4:46.83
- Irina Krivonogova, Samara Region, 4:52.13
- Aleksandra Maslova, Moscow City, 4:52.37
There were to be no surprise qualifiers in the women’s 400 IM as the country continues to struggle to develop depth in the event behind the recently-suspended Yana Martynova. though Kristina Vershinina was able to hold her spot from prelims in 4:46.83. That was over 5 seconds ahead of her next-closest competitor, and by just-over-5-seconds a lifetime best for her as compared to the start of the meet.
MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – Semi-Finals
- Russian Record: Kirill Prigoda, 59.60, 2015
- Russian Selection Standard: 59.99
After sliding his way through prelims, Kirill Prigoda roared to the top seed in the men’s 100 breaststroke semi-final, swimming a 1:00.17.
That’s just short of the Russian Selection Standard, and even then, the Sunday final round is looking more-and-more likely to have multiple swimmers under that Standard.
Vsevolod Zanko swam 1:00.21, a half-second improvement upon his best time; and Ilya Khomenko swam 1:00.35 to qualify 3rd.
200 breaststroke Junior World Record holder Anton Chupkov qualified 4th in 1:00.55 – a few tenths from his best time that ranked him 2nd in Russia last season.
Top 8 Qualifiers to Finals:
- Kiril Prigoda, St. Petersburg, 1:00.17
- Vsevolod Zanko, Moscow City, 1:00.21
- Ilya Khomenko, Rostov Region, 1:00.35
- Anton Chupkov, Moscow City, 1:00.55
- Oleg Kostin, Nizhny Novgorod Region, 1:00.61
- Andrei Nikolaev, Kaluga Region, 1:00.64
- Aleksandr Palatov, Volgograd Region, 1:00.68
- Rustam Gadirov, Omsk Region, 1:00.75
Non-Olympic Events: women’s 50 back, men’s 50 back, women’s 1500 free
- In the men’s 50 backstroke final, Grigory Tarasevich inched closer to the Russian National Record with a 24.70. While not an Olympic event, this is an important first test for Russia’s deep backstroke group. Nikita Ulyanov took 2nd in 24.82, and 200 meter specialist Evgeny Rylov, the youngest of the trio, took 3rd in 25.06.
- In the women’s 50 backstroke final, Anastasia Fesikova swam 28.17 for a relatively-easy win over 16-year old Maria Kameneva (28.49). Daria K Ustinova, who will be a threat in the Olympic distances, took 4th and exactly matched her prelims time of 28.59.
The Live results are amazing as well, instantly updated complete with splits as soon as a race finished, even if there’s still a final B coming right up. Compared this to USA swimming live results which must wait for final B (and sometimes Final C and D) before “live” results are updated.
Mind blown.
These results that Russia uses are used by a ton of European countries. My favorite part is the “summary” information they provide at the top – medals by team, multiple medalists, top performances by “points.”
There’s so many ways in which European tracking blows away the U.S. and Australia. The times database used by most European countries is light-years ahead of ours as well.
Most of swimswam readers are Americans.
There are also Australians, British, Brazilians, Italians, Canadians, one Belgian (Ervinforthewin) and of course French (at least 3). I believe we had one Chinese not a long time ago for Chinese nationals. Japanese, I don’t remember seeing one.
Are there some Russians here to comment their national championships?
The SwimSwam team should publish the metrics. I’m sure they are using Google Analytics or something similar and could tell you the country breakdown.
I know we’ve had a few Russian commenters, but in general, we’re not that popular there. Over the life of our site, Russia ranks 32nd on our list of “highest traffic countries.” Lower than places like Poland, Greece, Belgium, Egypt, Israel, Norway, and Portugal.
There are 3 Russians reading right now, though!
The reason why there’re very few Russians here is because they’re not aware of swiwswam, unfortunately! In addition, not as many people there are fluent in english. Again, too bad.
I totally can’t understand the language, but what a great live stream. Full house too.
The announcers seem to talk constantly which could mean tons of info.