MOSCOW, Russia, April 19. THE first Russian record of the meet went into the books at the Russian Long Course Championships during the second day of competition.
Veronika Popova downed the Russian record in the women's 100 free with a winning time of 54.22. That effort cleared the 54.70 set by Anastasia Aksenova at the 2009 World Championships, and moved Popova up to seventh in the world rankings. Natalia Lovtsova finished second in 55.83, while Margarita Nesterova took third in 56.38.
Yana Martynova topped the women's 200 fly finale in 2:12.05 to jump to eighth in the world rankings in the event. Irina Bespalova posted a 2:14.53 for second, while Kristina Novichenko took third in 2:17.07.
Evgeny Korotyshkin captured the men's 100 fly title in 52.42, advancing to seventh in the world rankings in the event. Nikita Konovalov finished second in 52.66, while Nikolay Skvortsov earned third in 53.28.
Stanislav Donets claimed the men's 100 back crown in 53.96 to move to eighth in the world rankings. Vitaliy Borisov finished second in 54.08, while Arkady Vyatchanin posted a third-place 54.92.
Ilya Volovnik hit the wall in 4:21.45 for the men's 400 IM title, while Igor Savchenko touched second in 4:22.74. Sergei Kashperskiy rounded out the top three in 4:24.43.
In semifinal action, Danila Izotov led the way with a 1:47.63 to move to seventh in the world rankings in the men's 200 free. Nikita Lobintsev qualified second in 1:48.00 for a top-15 ranking. Igor Borysik led the way in the men's 200 breast qualifying with a 2:12.50.
Yuliya Efimova checked in with a 1:07.42 in the women's 100 breaststroke for the top seed, and improved to eighth in the world rankings with the time. Anastasia Zueva picked up the top seed in the women's 200 back with a 2:09.23. That performance pushed her to ninth in the world rankings.
Saint Petersburg's team of Vyacheslav Andrusenko, Yevgeniy Ayzetullov, Konstantin Kiselyov and Aleksandr Sukhorukov won the men's 800 free crown in 7:27.51.
Special thanks to Priscilla Trillo for contributing to this report.