2020 BELARUSIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 17-19, 2020
- Brest, Belarus
- SCM (25m)
- Live Results
Grigori Pekarski started things off right at the 2020 Belarusian Short Course Championships, lowering the five-year-old national record in the men’s 100 freestyle preliminaries.
Pekarski, 22, blasted to a time of 47.32 in the heats, lowering the previous record of 47.44 set by Artyom Machekin at the 2015 European Short Course Championships in Netanya, Israel.
For Pekarski, this marked a personal best time by over six-tenths of a second, having set a PB of 47.97 earlier this month at the Minsk Open Championships. Prior to that early December swim, his lifetime best stood at 48.10 from the 2018 Salnikov Cup.
Also going under the old record in the prelims was Ruslan Skamaroshka, who dropped nearly a full second from his best time in 47.43.
In the final, Skamaroshka managed to equal his prelim swim to win the event, as he was the only swimmer to split sub-25 on the second 50. Pekarski settled for second in 47.86, while 2014 European LC champion Yauhen Tsurkin also cracked 48 in 47.91. Tsurkin holds a best time of 47.76 from 2018.
Pekarski was the bronze medalist in the men’s 50 butterfly at the 2019 World University Games, and also competed at the 2018 SC World Championships where he placed 17th in the 100 fly and 20th in the 50 fly.