Olympic backstroke medalist Arkady Vyatchanin, who formerly represented Russia internationally, has gained his U.S. citizenship. SwimSwam reported last summer that Vyatchanin was seeking American Sporting Citizenship after FINA blocked him from representing Serbia internationally due to residency. He has now attained his American citizenship and is eligible for the U.S. National Team.
Vyatchanin has plenty of international experience, having represented Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He was the bronze medalist in both backstrokes in Beijing. His resume also includes World Championships medals, European Championships titles, U.S. Winter Nationals titles, and short course World Records in both backstrokes set in 2009, though his backstroke World Records have since been broken.
Vyatchanin has been competing at this weekend’s U.S. Open in East Meadow, New York. There, he placed 2nd in the 200 back (1:57.13) and won the 100 back (53.91) with times that rank him among the top 6 performers at meets specified within the USA Swimming National Team selection procedures.
As a refresher, here are the selection criteria for making the team:
- The top six athletes in Olympic Events from the combined results of the 2017 Phillips 66 USA Swimming National Championships (World Championship and World University Games Trials), 2017 FINA World Championships, 2017 World University Games, and the 2017 USA Swimming U.S. Open.
- Times from Prelims, Semi-Finals and Finals (A, B and C) only will be used.
- Relay lead offs, time trials, swim-offs and intermediate splits will not be included.
Men’s 100 Back Selection Rankings
| 100 BACK |
| 1. Matt Grevers 52.48 |
| 2. Ryan Murphy 52.59 |
| 3. Justin Ress 53.37 |
| 4. Jacob Pebley 53.72 |
| 5. Arkady Vyatchanin 53.91 |
| 6. Sean Lehane 54.21 |
Men’s 200 Back Selection Rankings
| 200 BACK |
| 1. Ryan Murphy 1:54.21 |
| 2. Jacob Pebley 1:54.78 |
| 3. Jonathan Roberts 1:56.88 |
| 4. Sean Lehane 1:57.07 |
| 5. Arkady Vyatchanin 1:57.13 |
| 6. Robert Owen 1:57.17 |
As the U.S. Open comes to a close tomorrow, the only remaining qualifying meet for the National Team is the World University Games. The USA will send Justin Ress and Taylor Dale to that meet for the 100 back, while Austin Katz and Robert Owen will represent the USA in the 200 back.
Vyatchanin should be all but locked into the 100 back, with Ress already ahead of him. A big swim by Dale (who has a lifetime-best of 54.00) could bump Vyatchanin to 6th, but not out of national team status.
The 200 back looks good for Vyatchanin, but if both Owen and Katz can top his 1:57.13 at World University Games, he’ll be bumped out of national team status there.
Kind of sucks that he is taking the spot of a few young Americans
He is an American now.
The comment said “young Americans”….
He earned the spot
Yea he earned it. Swimming for a country that was his second choice.
Happy for him
Why did FINA block him from competing for Serbia?
Ed P – it’s hard to get a clear answer from either side, but from our position what it appears happened is that Arkady didn’t satisfy the rules of being required to live in the country for a year, but Arkady thought that the rule should be waived because he was unable to spend that much time in Serbia and still make a living as a professional swimmer. In other words, he wanted to compete for Serbia without actually living there.
I remember thinking this guy had the look down in Beijing not wearing a cap on the 200 back final and then his crazy underwaters… I actually hung on for a couple of years afterwards not wearing a cap at my taper meets.
Why is a relay lead off not acceptable, but a “C” final is. Relay lead offs count as official times; RM’s WR was a relay lead off. It seems odd that they don’t count.
I agree! If they count for World Records then it should count. I also feel swim-offs should count. It’s a part of the meet competition.
It’s about fairness. A superstar from a smaller team may not have as many chances to lead off a relay, which often provides extra incentive/energy (team, cheering, etc) for lead-off swimmer (or any relay swimmer for that matter) to swim better. RM’s world record was a good example. It is OK for these times to be official as PBs or WRs, but, in a selection process, not fair to those who don’t get to swim relays or time trials.
Seriously happy for him – he is great guy and went through so much turmoil with his national eligibility . Wishing him the best .
Great to have him, but this might be the worst country he could’ve gone to, given his events lol
the British need a backstroke ……but he is now a Us citizen .
congratulations, Arkadiy! better late than never!