Russian National Championships Preview; Links, Schedule and Story Lines

The 2014 Russian National Championships will be held in Moscow from May 13th-17th.

Prelims will be swum at 9:00 am local time – 1:00 am Eastern Standard Time

Finals will be swum at 5:00 pm local time – 9:00 am Eastern Standard Time

An entry lists and live results can be found here

This competition will be the Russian trials for both the 2014 European Championships in Berlin and the 2014 European Junior Championships in Dordrecht.

Selection criteria for the European Championships can be found here

Selection criteria for the European Junior Championships can be found here

The schedule is as follows:

May 13th

• Women’s 50 breaststroke semi-finals
• Men’s 50 butterfly semi-finals
• Women’s 400 IM final
• Men’s 200 breaststroke semi-finals
• Women’s 200 butterfly semi-finals
• Men’s 400 freestyle final
• Women’s 100 freestyle semi-finals
• Men’s 100 backstroke semi-finals
• Women’s 200 backstroke semi-finals
• Men’s 50 butterfly final
• Women’s 50 breaststroke final
• Women’s 800 freestyle – fastest heat

May 14th

• Men’s 100 backstroke final
• Women’s 400 freestyle final
• Men’s 100 freestyle semi-finals
• Women’s 200 butterfly final
• Men’s 200 IM semi-finals
• Women’s 100 freestyle final
• Men’s 200 breaststroke final
• Women’s 200 backstroke final
• Men’s 200 butterfly semi-finals
• Women’s 200 breaststroke semi-finals
• Men’s 1500 freestyle fastest heat

May 15th

• Men’s 50 breaststroke semi-finals
• Women’s 50 backstroke semi-finals
• Men’s 200 butterfly final
• Women’s 200 freestyle semi-finals
• Men’s 200 backstroke semi-finals
• Women’s 200 breaststroke final
• Men’s 100 freestyle final
• Women’s 100 butterfly semi-finals
• Men’s 200 IM final
• Women’s 50 backstroke final
• Men’s 50 breaststroke final
• Women’s 1500 freestyle fastest heat

May 16th

• Women’s 50 freestyle semi-finals
• Men’s 50 backstroke semi-finals
• Women’s 100 backstroke semi-finals
• Men’s 100 butterfly semi-finals
• Women’s 200 IM semi-finals
• Men’s 200 freestyle semi-finals
• Women’s 100 breaststroke semi-finals
• Men’s 200 backstroke final
• Women’s 200 freestyle final
• Men’s 100 breaststroke semi-final
• Women’s 100 butterfly final
• Men’s 800 freestyle fastest heat
• Women’s 50 freestyle final
• Men’s 50 backstroke final

May 17th

• Men’s 50 freestyle semi-finals
• Women’s 50 butterfly semi-finals
• Men’s 400 IM final
• Women’s 100 backstroke final
• Men’s 100 breaststroke final
• Women’s 100 breaststroke final
• Men’s 200 freestyle final
• Women’s 200 IM final
• Men’s 100 butterfly final
• Women’s 50 butterfly final
• Men’s 50 freestyle final

Who is ready to race?

This is an interesting question, as of right now there are only five Russian swimmers ranked in the world’s top 20:

• Evgeny Sedov – 50 butterfly – 10th – 23.48      50 freestyle – 11th – 21.98
• Nikita Lobintsev – 100 freestyle – 18th – 48.82    200 freestyle – 16th – 1:47.46
• Andrey Nikolaev – 50 breaststroke – 15th – 27.69
• Danila Izotov – 100 freestyle – 17th – 48.75
• Evgeny Koptelov – 50 butterfly – 23.85

This will obviously not be the sort of numbers we see after the competition as the majority of nations have already had their national championships, but with these in-season results it is hard to tell who is ready to put up impressive performances.

The Absence of Efimova

At the 2013 FINA World Championships the Russian team finished seventh in the overall medal standings (2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze) and were the third placed European team finishing behind France and Hungary. That was with Yuliya Efimova in their line up, who collected two gold and one silver for her country. Without her contribution the Russians would have finished 15th overall and been the eighth placed European nation.

The Russians dominated the 2013 European Short Course Championships winning 13 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze, but that was a competition where they collected five gold in the 4 x 50 meter relays, several of the top Europeans were missing and Efimova accounted for two gold and one silver along with being a member of two of the gold medal winning relay teams.

The Russians will have to have some unforeseen performances for them to be near the top of the medal standings in Berlin.

Morozov to Challenge for Five Titles

Vladimir Morozov, who won the 50 and 100 freestyle as well as the 100 IM titles at the European Short Course Championships, will be competing for five national titles. Morozov will be swimming the 50 and 100 freestyle as well as the 100 backstroke and 50 breaststroke in Moscow.