Natalia Lovtsova, Vlad Morozov Win 3rd Russian Titles

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Natalia Lovtsova, who is swimming at her first meet after a two-year ban for violating doping rules, finished the night with her second and third national titles at the Russian Swimming Championships.

After winning the 100 free, she wound up taking home the 50 free and 100 fly crowns tonight.  She opened the night with a 25.15 in the 50-meter free semis, before falling to Belarusian Alexandra Gerasimenya, 24.72 to 24.93.  Since Gerasimenya is from Belarus, Lovtsova technical picked up the national title.  Maria Kameneva took second tonight in 25.01.

She later won the 100-meter fly with a time of 58.27 for the win, while Anna Polyakova placed second in 58.49.  Svetlana Chimrova snared third in 58.75.

After questions arose whether Lovtsova should have remained banned until May 30, the original end date of her ban, the Russian Swimming Federation released a statement explaining that an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport commuted her ban to a full two-year suspension instead of ending half-a-year later.  Therefore, Russia claims that the ban ended on Nov. 30, 2014. Lovtsova was initially banned in 2012 for using methylhexaneamine, and was a repeat offender having already been suspended back in 2008 as well.

Meanwhile, Vlad Morozov, who already had won two golds and a silver so far, led the 50-meter back semis with a 25.02 then won finals with a 24.93 for his third gold.  Nikita Ulyanov earned silver in 25.13 with Grigory Tarasevich placing third in 25.27.

Tarasevich had a busy night, taking second to Evgeny Rylov in the men’s 200-meter back.  Rylov won in 1:56.44 to move to fifth in the world, while Tarasevich took second in 1:58.39.  Nikita Babchenko placed third in 2:00.32.

Yuliya Efimova, a world-class breaststroker also returning from a doping ban, led the way in the women’s 200-meter IM with a 2:15.42.  Victoria Andreeva qualified second in 2:16.49 with Ranokhon Amanova of Uzbekistan earning third in 2:16.66.

Just 15 minutes later, Efimova dropped a 1:07.26 to top the women’s 100-meter breast semis.  That’s well off her world-best time of 1:05.89, but enough to claim the top seed.  Natalia Ivaneeva qualified second in 1:08.40 with Vitalina Simonova snagging third in 1:08.55.

Evgeny Korotyshkin, who tied for silver with Chad le Clos behind Michael Phelps in the men’s 100-meter fly at the 2012 London Olympics, was expected to make the Worlds roster in the event but missed out on qualifying during the men’s 100-meter fly semis as he missed finals by just .2.

Veronika Popova, a national champion in the women’s 200-meter free, won the title again tonight with a 1:57.42 against Viktoria Andreeva’s 1:57.48.  Valeria Salamatina took third tonight in 1:59.28.

In the women’s 100-meter back semis. Daria K Ustinova paced qualifying with a 1:00.42, while Anastasia Fesikova put up a second-seeded time of 1:00.72.  Irina Prikhodko snared third in 1:01.29.

Danila Izotova, a World bronze medalist in the men’s 200-meter free, picked up the top seed in the event with a 1:47.78. Nikita Lobintsev qualified second in 1:47.78 with Andrey Karsnykh taking third in 1:48.02.

Another results:

M 100 breast S

1. Anton Lobanov 1.00.48
2. Ilya Khomenko 1.00.54
3. Grigory Falko 1.00.91
4. Anton Chupkov 1.01.11
5. Kirill Prigoda 1.01.12
6. Oleg Kostin 1.01.16
7. Vsevolod Zanko 1.01.38
8. Andrey Nikolaev 1.01.48

M 800 free

1. Kulikov Evgeny 7.59.51
2. Ernest Maksumov 8.00.75
3. Alexander Fyodorov 8.03.17

2015 Russian Swimming Championships, Day 4 (Russian) – Results

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