Russia Hosts “Government Relays” at National Championship Meet

The All-Russia Swimming Federation held a unique event on Saturday before the start of the evening session at the 2018 Russian Championships. The 200 mixed free relay pitted representatives of 16 governmental organizations against one another for a special award.

• Full race results available here.

The race was split into two age groups – relays where the aggregate age was 145 years-or-less, and relays where the aggregate age was over 145 years.

In the ‘youth’ group, the team from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia won, with Artemy Zertsov, Ekaterina Zakharova, Evgenia Shcherbina and Ilya Tereshkina combining for a 2:03.21.

The winner of the over 145 group was the team from the Ministry of Energy of Russia, including nuclear researcher Olga Mitrofanova, and pro-nuclear power, anti-nuclear weapon businessman Vladimir Smirnov.

Ironically, in the over 145 group, the Ministry of Energy beat out both the relay from the Russian Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sport of Russia.

There were a few ‘ringers’ in the field, including 26-year old Kirill Kobisev for the Russian Olympic Committee’s relay, who swam a 25.3 for the fastest split in the field. We’ve found record of him being a 24.8.

There was no sign of Russian president Vladimir Putin at the event, though Russian media reports he does spend about two hours swimming every day. (Scroll down midway through this report for the ugliest butterfly you’ve ever seen in your life from someone who spends 2 hours swimming every day).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iF_taXTDRY