Kliment Kolesnikov Hits World-Leading 52.54 100 Back On Day 2 of Russian Championships

2023 Russian Swimming Championships

• April 16-21, 2023
• Kazan, Russia
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• Day 1 Finals Full Replay
• Day 2 Finals Full Replay

The 2023 Russian Swimming Championships kicked off on Sunday from Kazan, and through two days of racing, there have been several notable swims produced.

The annual competition usually serves as Russia’s qualifier for the major international meet of the summer, but with the country still banned from racing at the World Aquatics Championships in a few months’ time, the Russian Championships are simply providing the nation’s best athletes an opportunity to race against one another.

In addition to Russian swimmers, athletes from Belarus (also banned from Worlds), Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Tajikistan and South Ossetia are also competing.

KOLESNIKOV MOVES TO WORLD #1

The top swim through two days of racing came on Monday in the men’s 100 backstroke, as Tokyo Olympic silver medalist and former 50 back world record holder Kliment Kolesnikov put up a time of 52.54 to take over the top spot in the world rankings.

Kolesnikov, who owns a personal best time of 52.00 from Tokyo, overtakes American Hunter Armstrong (52.59) for the top time in the world this year.

Kolesnikov, 22, was significantly faster than he was at this meet last year (53.03).

He was surrounded by a very strong field that saw six different swimmers go under 54 seconds, with Evgeny Rylov, the reigning Olympic champion in both the 100 and 200 back, placing second in 53.21, just ahead of fellow Russian Pavel Samusenko (53.26) as they move into eighth and ninth in the world rankings.

Last year, Rylov clocked 53.20 at this meet.

MALYUTIN DOUBLES UP

Martin Malyutin is the only swimmer to have two individual wins to his name through the first two days of action, as the freestyle specialist opened things up with a win in the 200 on Sunday before topping the 400 on Monday.

The 23-year-old, who won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in the 200 free, clocked 1:45.63 in the event to book a decisive victory, impressively splitting 52.39/53.24. The performance slots Malyutin into fifth in the world rankings.

Ivan Girev and Daniil Shatalov tied for second in 1:46.80.

On Day 2, Malyutin completed the double by claiming the 400 free in 3:48.01, edging out Shatalov (3:48.50) and Alexander Egorov (3:48.66).

Malyutin owns personal best times of 1:44.79 and 3:44.18 in the 200 and 400 free, respectively, set at the 2021 European Championships when he won double gold.

SHYMANOVICH LEADS STACKED MEN’S 100 BREAST

Fresh off of producing his world-leading 58.41 in the men’s 100 breast at the Belarusian Championships, Ilya Shymanovich picked up the victory in the event amidst a field that saw two other swimmers enter the top seven in the world rankings.

Shymanovich was just over three-tenths shy of his performance from earlier this month, clocking 58.75 to hold off Russians Kirill Prigoda (58.98) and Ivan Kozhakin (59.04), who move into fifth and seventh in the world this season, respectively.

Prigoda, 27, goes under his previous personal best time of 59.05—one that had been on the books since 2017—while Kozhakin knocked more than a second off his PB entering the day of 1:00.21.

In cracking the 59-second barrier for the first time, Prigoda is now just 15 one-hundredths shy of the Russian Record (58.83) set by Anton Chupkov in 2020.

Daniil Semyaninov made it four swimmers sub-1:00 in 59.69, taking over 12th in the world this season.

OTHER WINNERS

• Anna Chernysheva claimed gold on Day 1 in the women’s 400 IM, clocking 4:44.20 to chop two seconds off her previous best time set at this meet last year (4:46.40). Irina Krivonogova (4:45.22) was a close second.
• Maria Kameneva, who tied the European Record in the women’s SCM 50 back in November, won the event in a time of 28.01 on Monday, with her lifetime best sitting at 27.65 from last year. That moves Kameneva into 16th in the world rankings this year.
• The women’s 50 breast saw three swimmers go sub-31, led by 200 specialist Evgeniia Chikunova in a time of 30.78. Chikunova, 18, set a personal best of 30.54 in the semi-finals to move into 11th in the world rankings. Belarusian Alina Zmushka (30.90) was the runner-up.
• Svetlana Chimrova produced her fastest swim in the 200 fly since the 2021 Olympics to book the win in a time of 2:08.09, slotting into ninth in the world this season. Chimrova set the Russian Record of 2:07.33 at the 2018 European Championships.
• Ilya Borodin recorded a new personal best en route to victory in the men’s 200 IM, touching in 1:57.93 to inch under his previous mark of 1:58.00 from 2020. Borodin, 20, is now just over four-tenths shy of the Russian Record (1:57.50), moving into 11th in the world this year. Maxim Stupin dropped a few tenths to place second in 1:58.64.
• Anna Egorova won the women’s 800 free to close action on Monday in a time of 8:31.72, 1.5 seconds slower than she was at last year’s championships (8:30.22). Egorova owns a PB of 8:24.35 from April 2021.

DAY 2 SEMI-FINALS

• The men’s 100 fly semis saw four swimmers under 52 seconds, led by Mikhail Vekovishchev in 51.37. Andrei Minakov, fresh off the NCAA season with Stanford, notably qualified fourth into the final in 51.91.
• Daria Trofimova led of a trio of women sub-55 in the 100 free semis, clocking 54.41 to lower her previous best of 54.63 set last year.