Russian Olympic Medalist Yuliya Efimova To Make Racing Return This Month

2023 RUSSIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• November 20th – November 25th
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• SCM (25m)
• Results

The 2023 Russian Short Course Championships begin on November 20th with a hefty lineup of domestic stars ready to descend upon St. Petersburg.

Among them is 31-year-old Olympic medalist Yuliya Efimova, set to return to racing for the first time since 2021. The last meet on record for the breaststroking ace is that year’s edition of the Russian Short Course Championships.

The meet followed Efimova’s Tokyo performance which saw her nab 5th place in the 100m breast.

All told, Efimova owns 3 Olympic medals, which include 200m breast bronze at the 2012 edition in London and 100m breast/200m breast silver at the Rio Games in 2016.

Prior to Rio, Efimova was at the center of a doping scandal involving a substance called meldonium for which she tested positive in early 2016. Meldonium was originally developed to help Russian soldiers carrying heavy packs maintain their endurance across elevated terrain, but has since found use as both a performance enhancer for athletes and a heart medicine.

Because the substance had just been added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of those prohibited, Efimova’s case was dropped by World Aquatics (then-FINA). You can read more about the 2016 situation here.

Efimova remains the #3 top performer all-time in the women’s 100m breast, owning a lifetime best of 1:04.36 from 2017. Her lifetime best of 2:19.41 in the 200m breast from 2013 renders her the #4 performer ever in the event.

Additional top racers expected at these Russian Short Course Championships include:

Evgeny Rylov
Kliment Kolesnikov
Martin Malyutin
Mikhail Dovgalyuk
Kirill Prigoda
Maria Kamaneva
Arina Surkova
Svetlana Chimrova
Evgenia Chikunova
Andrei Minakov
Vladislav Grinev
Ilya Borodin
Maxim Stupin
Daria S. Ustinova
Daria K. Ustinova
Anna Egorova