The Russian Junior National Championships are taking place this week in Ruza (about an hour and a half west of Moscow). Through the first two days of competition, the Volgograd Region has jumped out to an early lead on the medals table, helped in large measure by wins from Ilya Druzhinin (1500 m free), Darya Andreychuk (200m fly), Alexander Zotov (50m back) and Nikolay Sokolov (400m IM). Not far behind, also with four gold medals, is St. Petersburg.
Junior Men
The meet opened on Monday with two-time gold medalist from the European Games in Baku, Vladislav Kozlov (Samara Region), winning the boys’ 100 fly in 53.43. Dmitry Malkov (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area-Yugra), who placed sixth in the 100, won the 200 fly in clear water with 2:00.66.
Igor Shadrin (St. Petersburg), also a double-gold medalist in Baku, won the boys’ 200 free in 1.50.58. The real excitement in that race, however, came in the battle for second among Alexey Rtishchev (Moscow) 1:52.22, Vitaly Lebanin (St. Petersburg) 1:52.28, and Alexander Prokofiev (Moscow) 1:52.37. Rtishchev, in particular, was impressive over the second half of the race, coming back from eighth at the 100 to earn the silver medal.
In the 100 back, Nikolay Markov (Leningrad Region) went 56.09 to hold off Moscow teammates Nikita Bodrov (56.72) and Nikolai Snegirev (56.84). Markov only managed a bronze in the 50 back, though, as Alexander Zotov (Volgograd Region) led the field with 25.87, while Yevgeny Gurevich (Moscow-2) touched second in 25.97.
Snegirev came back on Day Two and won the boys’ 400 free, beating Lebanin by over a second, 3:56.33 to 3:57.47. Rtishchev was third in that race with 3:58.37.
Druzhinin dominated the 1500. The young distance specialist, who competed in FINA’s World Cup in Moscow in October, 2014, got out to an early lead and continued to build on it until he touched in 15:31.12, 12 seconds ahead of second-place Eugene Drobota (Krasnoyarsk Territory).
Egor Suchkov (Saratov Region) went 28.49 to earn gold in the boys’ 50 breast over Simon Sitdikov (Sverdlovsk Region) and Gadir Rustam (Omsk Region).
Nikolai Sokolov (Volgograd Region), who won the 400 IM at Baku in 4:19.44, was off his time but nonetheless victorious, going 4:24.08 to win the event over teammate Alexander Zotov (4:26.19).
St. Petersburg’s 4×200 free relay climbed to the top step of the podium over two Muscovite teams, as Elisha Stepanov (1:49.22), Anton Vasiliev (1:52.50), Shadrin (1:50.69), and Lebanin (1:53.85) combined for a winning 7:26.26. Stepanov’s leadoff split was more than a second faster than Shadrin’s winning time in the individual event on Day One.
Junior Women
Darya Andreychuk (Volgograd Region) emerged victorious in a tight girls’ 200 fly race, edging teammate Marina Namazov, 2:15.47 to 2:15.92 for the title. In an even closer finish, Olesya Chernyatina (Samara Region) took the girls’ 100 free by 2/100, out-touching Vasilissa Buynaya (Nizhny Novgorod Region), 56.41 to 56.43.
Daria Gutov (Saratov Region) claimed the girls’ 200 back in 2:17.41 in front of Moscow teammates Svetlana Frolova and Darina Khisyamova. Gutov earned another gold the next day when she tied Valery Dudin (Republic of Tatarstan) for the 50 back title with 29.91.
Daria Chikunov (St. Petersburg), another double gold medalist in Baku, crushed the field in the 50 breast, with the only sub-33 (32.47) in the race. It was a much closer affair in the 200, though; Chikunov picked up her second gold but Daria Tokareva (Volgograd Region) fought her for every meter, trading stroke for stroke through the 150. The pair turned together at 1:50.7, but Chikunov came home in 38-low to Tokareva’s 39-low, and the final score read 2:29.00 to 2:29.93 in favor of the St. Petersburgian.
Diana Sheludchenko (Rostov Region) led the field in the 400 IM with a solid 4:50.38, while Barbara Simonova (Perm Region) finished second in 4:52.82.
In the 800 freestyle Moscow teammates Mariana Petrova (8:56.51) and Sophia Nesterova straddled the podium, with silver medalist Oksana Logvinova (Moscow Region) between them. Moscow picked up still more team points in the 4×200 free relay with Alexandra Maslov (2:06.45), Mariana Petrova (2:07.60), Victoria Ampelonova (2:06.76), and Natalya Tarasova (2:05.57), who went a combined 8:26.38 for the title.