From June 9 to June 15, Russia will hold its own National Open Water Championships. The competition is set to be hosted on the coast of the Black Sea, near the Russian city of Anapa.
At this meet, Russia’s top open water specialists will compete for national titles as well as qualification for various open water championships later on in the summer. The target meet is the European Open Water Championships, which are to be held in the Dutch city Hoorn in mid July.
Some of Russia’s top male open water swimmers, including Ivan Afanevich, Artem Podyakov, Kirill Belyaev and 2015 World University Games gold medalist Anton Evsikov. For the women, top competitors include Anastasia Krapivina, who has already qualified to compete in Rio, along with Olga Kozydub, Elizaveta Gorshkova, and Anastasia Azarov.
The competition will also serve as qualification for the Russian team to be sent to the European Junior OW Champs, also set to be held in Hoorn after the senior champs are done. There will also be a masters category at the Russian champs.
More information on the competition (in Russian) is available here.