MOSCOW, Russia, June 20. THE Russian Swimming Federation held their national championship this week in Moscow, and several, but not all, of the country's top swimmers participated. Svetlana Chimrova highlighted the competition with a Russian national record in the women's 100 fly.
Chimrova clocked a time of 58.22 to win the event and set the new mark. She finished a tenth of a second faster than Natalia Sutyagin's previous record from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She fell just eight one-hundredths of a second outside the world top-ten, as Italy's Ilaria Bianchi stands tenth at 58.14. Meanwhile, Daria Tsvetkov took second in the race in 59.91, while Anna Polyakova checked in at 1:00.59 for third.
Andrey Grechin won the men's 100 free in 48.77. However, that does not approach the top time this year among Russians, as Vlad Morozov ranks second in the world at 47.93, and Nikita Lobintsev (48.17) and Danila Izotov (48.18) both rank in the top ten. That depth gives Russia a strong chance to match or better its bronze medal performance in the 400 free relay from the London Olympics. Izotov ended up second in Moscow in 49.17, while Sergey Fesikov took third in 49.28.
Nikolay Skvortsov won the men's 200 fly in 1:57.30. Skvortsov already has the sixth-best time in the world at 1:55.70. Irina Novikova took the women's 200 breast in 2:26.83, off her tenth-ranked 2:25.33. In the men's 200 breast, the top ranked swimmer in the world earned the victory as Vyacheslav Sinkevich swam a 2:10.76. That, too, fell well short of his season best time of 2:08.62.
Fesikov put up a strong performance in the men's 50 back with a 25.04, while Anton Butymov took the 100 back title in 54.28. Anton Anchin won the 200 back in 1:58.16. Victoria Andreeva touched out Veronika Popova in the women's 200 free, 1:58.88 to 1:58.95, but Popova wound up winning the 100 free in 54.69. Daria Ustinov took the women's 200 back in 2:09.22, while Yana Martinova grabbed the 200 fly title in 2:11.73.
Nikita Konovalov clocked 23.49 to win the men's 50 fly, falling less than a tenth of a second outside the world top-ten. Meanwhile, Anastasia Chaun and Valentina Artemyeva tied for the title in the women's 50 breast with both clocking 31.50.