By Maria Dobysheva, Swimming World Russian contributor
Vlad Morozov claimed his fourth gold medal of the meet as he clocked the second-fastest time in the world in the men’s 50-meter free at the Russian Swimming Championships.
Morozov swam to a 21.82 and was the only man to go under 22 seconds in the men’s 50-meter free semis. Andrey Grechin turned in a 22.14 with Oleg Tikhobaev earning the third seed in 22.51. Morozov then blasted a 21.65 to win the men’s 50-meter free to move behind only Florent Manaudou (21.57) in the world this year.
Grechin took second with a time of 22.01 to move to ninth in the world, while Evgeny Lagunov snagged bronze with a time of 22.32.
After yesterday’s semifinals, where Daria K Ustinova and Anastasia Fesikova finished almost together, with Ustinova a little ahead with 1.00.42 and Fesikova 1.00.73, tonight’s finals were one of the highlights of the meet.
Ustinova broke 1:00 to win the event with 59.89 to move her to sixth in the world. Fesikova won silver with a 1.00.59 and finished the meet with two medals including the gold for 50 and qualified for Worlds team in both events, quite a good outcome for a young mom making her comeback to swimming after maternity leave. Maria Kameneva finished with a bronze in 1.00.81.
Danila Izotov, who made podiums in Barcelona and Doha (short course Worlds), was expected to post some fast times in the men’s 200-meter free looked like a safe bet for a win as he was top seed with 1.47.59 with Nikita Lobintsev second – 1.47.78.
Alexander Krasnykh, who earlier took gold in 400 free, surprisingly won the final with a time of 1.47.39. Alexander Sukhorukov, who already booked his ticket in Kazan in 100 free, took silver – 1.47.41 and his training partner Nikita Lobintsev claimed bronze – 1.47.59. Danila Izotov finished sixth with a result that might be called disappointing: 1.48.11.
In the finals of the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, Yuliya Efimova almost equalled her top result, with only 0.01 slower and won the gold – 1.05.90. Efimova earlier clocked a 1:05.89 in Mission Viejo for the top time in the world.
Daria Deeva, from lane 7, touched out second-seed Vitalina Simonova – 1.08.33 to 1.08.62. They both took championships medal,s but unfortunately couldn’t meet the Worlds qualification standard (1.07.83).
Efimova was back in the pool soon after her win to perform in the 200 IM final. She was top seed and sure was hoping to add a fourth gold to her big collection from this meet. Nevertheless, Efimova lost to Victoria Andreeva, who swam a great freestyle leg and grabbed a gold with 2.12.31, left Efimova behind with 2.14.67. Yana Martynova took bronze with 2.15.16. Worth mentioning that none of the medalists could make the Worlds team as they were behind the qualification standard 2.11.69.
Vyacheslav Prudnikov broke into the world top 10 with a ninth-ranked 51.94 to win the men’s 100-meter fly. Prudnikov is already a well-known name in top rankings- he was sixth in last year’s rankings with 51.60 behind Ryan Lochte. Prudnikov was the only swimmer to go sub-52 in the whole final. Alexander Popkov got silver with 52.07 and Evgeny Koptelov finished with bronze 52.11
Natalia Lovtsova picked up her fourth gold medal and set a new National record in the last women’s event of the meet with 26.05 in the women’s 50-meter fly. That time put her sixth in the world rankings together with Emily Seebohm. Lovtsova, 27, has had her first meet since end of her 2 year suspension for violating doping rules. Former National record holder Svetlana Chimrova (26.53) and Maria Kashinskaya (26.72) completed the podium.
Other results:
Men’s 400 IM
1. Makovich Semen 4.17.73
2. Osipenko Alexander 4.18.03
3. Tikhonov Alexander 4.21.49
Men’s 100 breaststroke
1. Khomenko Ilya 1.00.53
2. Lobanov Anton 1.00.59
3. Falko Grigory 1.00.73
National roster for the World team will be completed after last stop of Russian cup which takes place in June. It will be the last chance for some swimmers to get their tickets to Kazan.
2015 Russian Swimming Championships, Day 5 (Russian) – Results
Esos rusos siempre van por el primer puesto en el 50