13-Year Old Aleksandra Sabitova Breaks Russian Jr Record in 100 Fly

2017 Vladimir Salnikov Swim Cup

• December 22nd-23rd, 2017
• 25m (SCM) pool
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• Meet Central
• Live Results

On day 1 of the 2017 Vladimir Salnikov Swim Cup, a World Record in the 100 meter backstroke by 17-year old Kliment Kolesnikov was the clear shot-stopper of the meet. He swam 48.90, which improved the Russian Record of 48.95 set in 2010 by Stanislav Donets, and also undercut Matt Grevers’ World Record of 48.92 from 2015.

But he wasn’t the only young Russian swimmer that wowed on the first day of the annual winter meet. 13-year old Aleksandra Sabitova, who in April went under 1 minute in the 100 fly in long course, won the short course final on Friday in 56.84. That swim broke the Russian Junior Record, which is recognized for swimmers aged 16 and under. The old record of 58.93 was set in 2012 by Svetlana Chimrova at 58.93. Exactly a second behind her was Belarusian 14-year old Anastasiya Shkurdai in 57.84.

Sabitova’s swim is less than half-a-second from Chimrova’s senior Russian Record of 56.39, and ranks the young swimmer 13th in the world.

Hers was only the 2nd-best female swim by power points, however, measured on proximity to World Records. Veronika Andrusenko (formerly Veronika Popova) swam a 1:53.60 in the 200 free final, for a 927-point swim. Her Russian Record in the event is 1:52.46.

The home team from St. Petersburg leads the medals table after day one with 17 of all colors, followed by Moscow with 10.

Other Day 1 Winners

• Kirill Prigoda won the men’s 50 breaststroke (25.94) and 200 breaststroke (2:03.62) in the same day.
• Kolesnikov also took away a win in the 100 free in 46.58, beating out his Muscovite teammate Andrey Zhilkin (47.51). Russian Record holder Vlad Morozov isn’t swimming at this meet.
• Natalia Ivaneeva won the women’s 100 breaststroke in 1:05.52, beating out teenager Daria Chikunova (1:06.10).
• 17-year old Maksim Stupin won the men’s 200 IM in 1:57.11, holding off a hard charge from Dmitry Shcherbakov and Egor Suchkov. Shcherbakov had a 1.3 second lead over Shcherbakov and a 2 second lead over Suchkov at the halfway mark, but both nearly ran him down to finish in 1:57.23 and 1:57.26, respectively.
• Anastasia Fesikova won the women’s 50 backstroke in 26.72.
• Alexander Kharlanov dominated the men’s 200 fly in 1:51.90. He was more than 2 seconds ahead of runner-up Andrew Pribytko (1:53.14).
• Aleksandr Krasnykh from Tarstan won the men’s 400 free by a similar margin in 3:40.38.
• Dutch swimmer Kim Busch, one of the few foreigners at the meet, won the women’s 50 free in 24.25. She beat out Russia’s Rozaliya Nasretdinova (24.32) for the win.
• Anastasia Kirpichnikova won a women’s 800 free field of just 7, finishing in 8:26.71. That was almost 6 seconds ahead of the next-closest finisher.
• Anastasia Avdeeva won the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:05.59 – just half-a-second slower than her lifetime best from Russia’s Short Course Nationals in late November.
• Oleg Kostin won the men’s 50 fly in 22.90, beating out a trio of Belarusians led by Yauhen Tsurkin (22.93).