Evgeny Dratsev Wins 2 Titles at Russian Open Water Nationals

By Maria Dobysheva

Evgeny Dratsev had a strong outing at the Russian Open Water National Championships held in Krasnodar (June 16-20).

Held at the lake called Antient Kuban, open water swimmers from all over the country were competing to book their flight to World Championships. The quality of climate and water the racing took place in where close to Kazan and Kazanka river where swimmers will be performing in August.

The meet started with Olympic event, men’s and women’s 10 km. To trial at 10 km was an important goal for all participants, not only they will swim the event at World Championships but also top ten finishers will pass the first step of difficult qualifying process for the next summer’s Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

22 men kicked off the blocks but the pelaton split pretty soon and only four medal contenders left in front of the finish line. In a dramatic battle, the youngest among finishers, 24 year old Kirill Abrosimov representing Moscow won the national title with 1:53:11.5, with Daniel Serebrennikov from Volgograd left six seconds behind – 1:53:17.4. Sergey Bolshakov from the Udmurt Republic grabbed bronze with 1:53:20.6. Multiple Worlds and European championships medalist Evgeny Dratsev, finished fourth in this group (1:53:25.0).

Ladies took the start up next. Unlike men’s race, it was a “one swimmer show” where 21 year old Anastasia Krapivina representing Moscow and Lipetsk took the lead and didn’t let anyone to get even close to her. She maintained her last year’s title and won with 2:05:54.1. Anastasia Azarova performed with better speed in the last two splits yet finished in one minute behind Krapivina (2:06:52.4), while Elizaveta Gorshkova won bronze – 2:07:10.8.

On the next day swimmers start in 5 km, one of the shortest and most entertaining events in open water swimming.

32 year old veteran Evgeny Dratsev didn’t plan to swim 5 km but decided to enter in this event after his disappointing fourth place in 10 km. If it was a risk, it totally paid off: Dratsev won the race in a thrilling tough battle where photofinish helped to determine the winner. He was fifth after the first split but managed to perform the best speed in the second split and hold the lead until the finish – 0:55:47.1. Sergey Bolshakov was second 0:55:48.3 and Kirill Abrosimov got bronze, 0:55:49.0.

Anastasia Krapivina won her second national title in women’s 5 km (1:02:24.9), finished ahead of Anastasia Azarova (1:02:31.5) and Maria Novikova (1:02:38.7). Krapivina performed the best last split, almost seven seconds faster than her closest rival Azarova.

After two days break in competitions, Open Water Russian Worlds Trials continued with 16 km events, the longest event at Nationals. Qualification process in this event is different as Worlds championships schedule don’t include 16 km but 25 and swimmers trial based on their overall performance, not place.

Evgeny Dratsev stunned with his impressive and comfortable win, 3:13:29.6. Great strategy during the race and solid speed he was holding till the finish brought him to his second national title. Roman Karyakin who won silver, finished more than a minute behind, 3:14:31.8. Podyakov Artyom was third, 3:15:18.4.

24 year old Olga Kozydub, representing Yugra, won gold medal in women’s 16km with 3:25:55.0, left far behind two multi-medalists of the meet Anastasia Krapivina (3:27:49.7) and Anastasia Azarova (3:28:25.3).

In team’s 5km, Moscow placed first (Gorshkova Elizaveta, Smirnov Daniel, Eliseev Evgeny) – 0:59:28.1, touched out team Yugra 0:59:28.2 and Volgograd won bronze – 0:59:52.2

Worlds Championships roster for Russia will be posted later, after analyzing all performers and their splits.

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