Russian Short Course Championships: Nine national medallists earn Europeans berths on Day 2

Day 2 of the Russian Short Course Swimming Championships saw some fierce competition with ten finals being contested in a single day.

The following semis were held in the morning: men’s 50m freestyle, women’s 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m individual medley, while the finals witnessed nine winners being decided in the individual medley, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle events. Plus, best swimmers were determined in two relays. If yesterday only two athletes qualified for the European Short Course Swimming Championships, today the national team’s roster for this tournament has considerably increased.

The finals pleased fans and supporters with some hot live action with a number of youth records being set by Anastasia Kirpichnikova (NJR), Anton Chupkov (WJR), and Elizaveta Permyakova (WJR).

Results

Russian Short Course Swimming Championships

Men’s 4x50m freestyle relay

1. Novosibirsk Oblast- 1:35.99

2. St. Petersburg - 1:36.04

3. Khabarovsk Krai - 1:36.54

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

Men’s 400m individual medley

1. Dmitry Gorbunov - 4:06.65 (Q)

2. Nikolay Sokolov - 4:09.78

3. Sergey Strelnikov  - 4:10.06

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

“I’ve prepared myself to win, to achieve a good result. I wanted to meet the qualifying standard and my fastest time so much and I did it. My favourite events are 50m and 100m, but I don’t have enough stamina for 200m. My goals for the European championships are to improve my personal best and to target medal positions. I didn’t have to face any strong challenge here – there were no major medal contenders such as Yulia Efimova, Vitalina Simonova and Valya Artemyeva,” said Natalia Ivaneeva who earned gold in the 50m breaststroke event. 

Women's 50m breaststroke

1. Natalia Ivaneeva - 30.16 (Q)

2. Nadezhda Kalashnikova - 30.90

3. Maria Astashkina - 31.32

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

“Of course, I plan to go to the Europeans, I’ve been telling about it this summer. I’m very happy with the result I’ve shown here as last year I was slower. I will do my best to swim in a time that will be as close to the European record as possible. I train in my home town; I do not travel to other places to train. If our pool had been a little bit deeper, it would have been perfect. When I come home, to my family – I take my mind off my training activities. I think I will play for high stakes and shave my face for the European championships. I have no idea whether facial hair affects swimming speed but I’ve shaved my body. Today’s race was quite a challenge as all swimmers showed good results. I’ve seen the sheet: the 3rd place winner finished in 51 seconds, I can’t remember a time when the top three finishers swam so fast before. Of course, I got tired. I have kept my eye on Nikita: if it were not for him, I would have swum slower. He made me break some sweat,” said Stanislav Donets who placed second in the 100m backstroke event. 

Men's 100m backstroke

1. Nikita Konovalov - 50.47 (Q)

2. Stanislav Donets - 50.83 (Q)

3. Andrey Shabasov - 50.91

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

“The result is very good despite the fact that I have not been preparing for this competition at all. I will go to the Europeans; we will start gearing up for it soon but we will decrease the amount of training load. I knew that everyone will swim as fast as they did yesterday and I raced at my own pace without regard to other swimmers’ speed,” Daria Ustinova commented after taking the title in the 100m backstroke. 

Women's 100m backstroke

1. Daria Ustinova - 57.77 (Q)

2. Irina Prikhodko - 58.03 (Q)

3. Anastasia Fesikova - 58.47

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

“I’m happy with the result; basically it’s much the same as my last year’s result. But I came to Kazan after competing in three legs of the FINA World Cup. I thought that I will have a hard time but I did well. As for the World Cup, I got acclimated quite well there, overcame jet lag, mustered up all my strength and showed the best I am capable of. Of course, I plan to compete at the European championships. I will fight for medals!” said Oleg Kostin who placed first in the 100m breaststroke event.  

Men's 100m breaststroke

1. Oleg Kostin - 57.22 (Q)

2. Anton Chupkov - 57.61 (Q)

3. Vyacheslav Sinkevich - 57.65

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

Men's 100m butterfly

1. Nikita Konovalov - 50.02 (Q)

2. Alexander Sadovnikov - 50.51 (Q)

3. Nikolay Skvortsov 3 - 51.20

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

Women 800m freestyle

1. Olesya Kuklina - 9:03.01

2. Natalya Kurtseva 9: ​10.10

3. Irina Pronina - 9:15.79

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

Men's 4x200m freestyle relay

1. Moscow - 7:00.70

2. St. Petersburg - 7:03.13

3. Republic of Tatarstan - 7:11.68

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

Mixed 4x50m medley relay

1. Moscow - 1:40.05

2. St. Petersburg - 1:40.44

3. Novosibirsk Oblast - 1:41.50

November 9. Kazan. Aquatics Palace

All results of the second competition day are available here (in Russian). 

Press Office of Executive Directorate for Sports Projects