2017 Russian Championships
- Monday, April 10 – Friday, April 14, 2017
- Moscow, Russia
- Live results
It was the sprinters who came up with the best performances on day 1 of Russian nationals, with Yulia Efimova hitting a new world #1 time in the 50 breast and Oleg Kostin doing the same in the 50 fly.
Efimova was 29.88 to win the 50 breast, topping the world ranks by a good seven tenths of a second. The Russian breaststroker is looking to rebound from a Rio Olympics in which she was widely criticized and publicly booed following a failed doping test for the newly-banned substance meldonium. FINA ultimately dropped all charges against Efimova after some evidence suggested athletes could have taken meldonium when it was legal (at the end of 2015) and had the substance remain in their system several months into 2017.
2016-2017 LCM WOMEN 50 BREAST
King
29.40*WR
| 2 | Yuliya EFIMOVA | RUS | 29.57 | 07/30 |
| 3 | Katie MEILI | USA | 29.99 | 07/30 |
| 4 | Molly HANNIS | USA | 30.19 | 06/03 |
| 5 | Ruta MEILUTYTE | LTU | 30.20 | 07/30 |
Kostin won the 50 fly with a big swim of 23.27. That’s takes over spot #1 in the world ranks by one one-hundredth of a second and leaves the ranks very, very tight at the top. The 24-year-old Kostin is now just .03 off of the Russian national record, which was set at 23.24 by Evgeny Korotyshkin back in 2009, during the era of the supersuits.
2016-2017 LCM MEN 50 Fly
SANTOS
22.61
| 2 | Henrique MARTINS | BRA | 22.70 | 05/26 |
| 3 | Benjamin PROUD | GBR | 22.75 | 07/24 |
| 4 | Caeleb DRESSEL | USA | 22.76 | 07/23 |
| 5 | Andrii GOVOROV | UKR | 22.77 | 07/23 |
One more finals swim cracked the top 5 in the world ranks. Aleksandr Krasnykh was 3:45.79 to win the men’s 400 free, moving to #4 worldwide. Other event winners included Irina Krivonogova in the women’s 400 IM (4:45.23) and Anastasia Kirpichnikova in the women’s 800 free (8:36.25).
Semifinals in five events brought out a few more big world-ranked times. Most notable was the 200 breast, where there’s been a world explosion of top times this season. Kirill Prigoda is the top qualifier into the final at 2:08.11 – that sets him to #3 in the world ranks behind only world record-breaker Ippei Watanabe and Sweden’s Erik Persson, who broke out earlier this week. Second in semifinals today was Anton Chupkov, who went 2:08.72 and now sits #4 in the world. Prigoda’s time appears to knock down Chupkov’s Russian record of 2:08.53 set last summer.
2016-2017 LCM MEN 200 BREAST
WATANABE
2.06.67*WR
| 2 | Anton CHUPKOV | RUS | 2.06.96 | 07/28 |
| 3 | Yasuhiro KOSEKI | JPN | 2.07.18 | 04/16 |
| 4 | Kevin CORDES | USA | 2.07.41 | 06/18 |
| 5 | Ross MURDOCH | GBR | 2.07.72 | 07/27 |
And in the men’s 100 back semifinals, Evgeny Rylov dropped a 53.44 that moves him to #3 in the world ranks for the season.
2016-2017 LCM MEN 100 BACK
XU
51.86
| 2 | Matt GREVERS | USA | 52.26 | 07/30 |
| 3 | Ryan MURPHY | USA | 52.34 | 07/26 |
| 4 | Ryosuke IRIE | JPN | 52.80 | 07/30 |
| 5 | Evgeny RYLOV | RUS | 52.89 | 07/30 |
Other semifinal winners included Svetlana Chimrova in the 200 fly (2:08.57), Veronika Popova in the 100 free (54.65) and Daria Ustinova in the 200 back (2:10.08).
Selection Procedures
Russia will use this meet to select its World Championships team, among several other major meets. From our translation of the selection procedures, it appears Russia will select the top 2 swimmers in each event who hit their qualifying standards. Qualifying standards are at the bottom of the selection procedures document here, in its original Russian.
Qualifying Swimmers for World Champs:
- Aleksandr Krasnykh, 400 free
- Oleg Kostin, 50 fly
- Yulia Efimova, 50 breast
Prigoda and Chupkov should be in line to make the cut in the 200 breast, along with Rylov in the 100 back. Chimrova is just off the time in the 50 fly, Popova a half-second away in the 100 free and Ustinova a half-second off in the 200 back.
Our Lady demonstrates beauty, grace, and humility in obtaining world #1 ranked time. Ms King should take notes.
Glad to see you back
Your yulia cheat needs to take notes on how to train without using drugs:-)
Rylov will not be easy to beat in Budapest in the 200 back. Lack of power but great technique.
And about Efimova, I fear that she wins the 100 breast next summer. She wants a revenge.
Please Miss King, do something again to prevent that.
Anyone but King
You think Lily King is gonna lose after Rio. Trust…she will back up that Rio swim. ?
Her mouth will write a check that she can’t cash.
Jared, could you please mention the podium of each event with the times, as usual for most of swimswam recaps. It’s not easy to read here. It’s not easy to read here with the big (too big 🙂 ) world rankings. Thanks.
Some woman needs to drop some shockingly fast breaststroke times, take breaststroke to a new level and make Efimova obsolete.
I agree. Women’s breaststroke top times have not progressed that much since Leisel produced those 1:05 and 2:20, 12 years ago.
Not as bad as women’s 200 fly of course.
Still..
Rebecca come backkk
Chupkov’s NR from last summer was 2:07.70
Another interesting time: Rylov 48.48 in the relay 4×100 free (flat start)
Looks like he’s improving in freestyle too.
Their cuts are faster then the FINA cuts but does not appear to be as fast as the Aussie cuts at a first glance
Yulia is hawt