17-year-old Anastasiya Shkurdai of Belarus blasted a 56.95 in the 100 butterfly at the Belarusian Cup in her home town of Brest. Shkurdai, who was the silver medalist at last summer’s World Junior Championships behind American Torri Huske in the 100 butterfly, broke her own national record of 57.39 set last year at the European Juniors.
She had been as fast as a 58.2 earlier this year in March, and is not far off of the current world junior record of 56.46 set by Canada’s Penny Oleksiak on her way to Olympic silver in 2016.
The time puts Shkurdai third in the world rankings for 2020 behind Australia’s Emma McKeon and reigning Olympic champ and world record holder Sarah Sjostrom (56.71). Shkurdai’s swim came while many meets are not being held due to the coronavirus. According to data by Johns Hopkins University and the Ministry of Health, Belarus has recorded under 200 new COVID cases each day this week. While the curve is flattening in the European nation, the virus is not completely wiped out of the country.
Anastasiya Shkurdai has been on the rise in the last 13 months, starting with a gold at the 2019 European Juniors in the 100 butterfly, before following that up with a silver at the world junior level. Shkurdai was also the European Short Course Champion in December with a 56.21 in the 100 butterfly SCM. In the fall she competed for Energy Standard in the International Swimming League, where she was as fast as a 56.09 in the 100 fly at the Grand Final in Las Vegas.
2020 World Rankings Women’s 100 Butterfly (LCM)
- 56.36, Emma McKeon, AUS
- 56.71, Sarah Sjostrom, SWE
- 56.95, Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR
- 57.33, Kelsi Dahlia, USA
- 57.34, Regan Smith, USA
Congratulations