24 athletes from among the participants of the Swimming Championships of Russia, which ended yesterday in Moscow, including Olympic medalists Yulia Efimova, Vladimir Morozov, Anton Chuprov and Evgeny Rylov, fulfilled the qualification criteria for the European Championship, to be held in August this year, in Glasgow.
In order to get to the Russian team for the main start of the season it was necessary to take 1 or 2 place at individual distances and to fulfill the qualification standard. At the same time, the coaches have the right to include those who did not get into the top 2, but fulfilled the standard.
As a result, 11 women and 13 men managed to fulfill the criteria:
Anna Egorova (800m, Freestyle), Daria Ustinova (100 and 200m Backstroke), Anastasia Avdeeva (200 m, Backstroke), Svetlana Chimrova (100 and 200m, Butterfly), Maria Kameneva (50 m, Freestyle, 50 and 100m, Backstroke), Yulia Efimova (50, 100 and 200m, Breaststroke), Anastasia Fesikova (50 and 100m Backstroke), Veronika Andrusenko (200 and 400m Freestyle), Vitalina Simonova (200m Breaststroke), Victoria Andreeva (200m Individual Medley), Natalia Ivaneeva (50m Breaststroke).
Oleg Kostin, Nikita Korolev (both 50m Butterfly), Vladimir Morozov (50m Backstroke, 50 and 100m Freestyle), Clement Kolesnikov (50, 100 and 200m Backstroke), Alexander Krasnykh (200 and 400m Freestyle), Viatcheslav Andrusenko (400m Freestyle), Anton Chuprov (100 and 200m Breaststroke), Kirill prigoda (100 and 200m Breaststroke), Danila Izotov (100m Freestyle), Evgeny Rylov (100 and 200m Backstroke), Andrey Zhilkin (200m Individual Medley), Aleksandr Sadovnikov (100m Butterfly), Mikhail Vekovischev (200m Freestyle).
We would like to pay special attention to Yulia Efimova’s the successful performance in the pool of the Olympic stadium. Three-time Olympic champion approached the tournament not in the best shape. Despite this, Yulia won two gold (50 and 100 meters Breaststroke) and two silver (200m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley).
In an interview with the ROC Information Service Efimova noted that her health after the illness was getting better each day and if the championship continued for another couple of days, she would have shown better results. It is worth mentioning, that at this national championship it was the first time in Yulia’s career that she took part in the relay. She won her stage of the combined 4x100m relay, but in the overall standings her team finished fourth.
In the men’s Breaststroke, the attention was drawn to the rivalry of the 2017 world champion Anton Chupkov and two-time winner of the world Championships Kirill Prigoda. Chupkov won the 100 and 200 meters, but this victory was not an easy one.
The same can be said about the men’s battles in sprint. Last year’s world champion Evgeny Rylov in a tough struggle with Clement Kolesnikov became first in the 100m race and at a distance twice as long. Short sprint was won by Vladimir Morozov with a world record of 24.35 seconds. However, in this event as well17-year-old Kolesnikov was very competitive.
One of the leaders of the men’s team, 2012 London Games bronze medalist Vladimir Morozov, admitted that the victory in the 50m Backstroke, and with such a high result, was a surprise for him. Morozov confirmed his class in Crawl, winning two distances (50 and 100 meters). What is more, he has not completed the 100m distance so fast (47,75 seconds) since 2013!
Among the women we would like to point out the successful performance of the national team’s captain, 2012 Games silver medalist Anastasia Fesikova (Zueva), who fulfilled the qualifying standards in the 50 and 100 meters Backstroke. In an interview with journalists 27-year-old athlete remembered that last time she was qualified for the European championship was ten years ago.
Maria Kameneva won two gold medals in the individual distances (50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle) in Moscow. It should be reminded that in 2015 at the I European Games in Baku the trainee of the Orenburg swimming school set a record in the number of awards. Kameneva brought six gold, one silver and two bronze medals from Baku!
A year later, Maria became a world champion in the short water, as part of the relay team (4x50m Freestyle), and last season she collected a decent harvest of medals at the Universiade in Taipei and the European Short Water Championship in Copenhagen.
Yegor Kuimov (100m Butterfly) and Rosalia Nasretdinova (50m Freestyle), who were among the leaders in their disciplines, will most likely go to Glasgow along with the 24 athletes, who received their tickets to on the results of the championship of Russia. In Moscow, they were disqualified for false starts, but acting head coach Sergei Chepik, recommended to this position by the Russian Swimming Federation, spoke for their inclusion in the Russian national team.
Over the past time, both Sergei Chepik, and the Coaching Council, headed by him, coped well with their task. Therefore, the Executive Committee and the Presidium of the Russian Swimming Federation did not have any questions about his candidacy, President of the Russian Swimming Federation Vladimir Salnikov said in an interview with the Information Service.
Sergey Chepik, in turn, noted that the leaders of the national team performed in Moscow “without failures” and that “the team is in good condition”.
