Russian Swimming’s Future On Display At Junior National Championships

By Maria Dobysheva

The annual Russian Swimming National Junior Championships have begun in Volgograd. Boys aged 15-16 years and girls aged 13-14 from 50 regions came to compete in the outdoor pool to fight for national titles and qualify for some international meets in this summer.

200 free boys
Nikita Tretyakov, repesenting the Udmurdtya Region, finished first with a 1:52.36, outtouching his rivals Mikhail Khoruzhy (1:52.78) and Ivan Gireev (1:53.03).

200 fly girls
Yana Kurtseva, who set the new meet record in 200 fly prelims (2:18.36) – the old one was set in 2008 – slowed down a bit in finals yet won gold with 2:20.03. Darya Korepanova finished with a silver (2:21.63) and Zotova Ekaterina got bronze (2:23.17).

400 IM girls
Another meet record was broken in the 400 IM where Alexandra Denisenko amazed with 4:50.17. Worth mentioning that the previous record (4.52.71) was set in 2001. Denisenko won in a tough battle with Darya Loboda, who finished second with a 4:51.66. Lyubov Burakova (5.03.78) got bronze.

100 breast boys
Danila Kitov won gold in 100 the breaststroke with a new meet record of 1:02.54. Evgeny Somov (1:02.62) and Kharybin Kirill (1:04.61) completed the podium.

50 free boys
Traditionally, the 50 free attracts the most attention at any meet. In semifinals, Gleb Karasev, representing Tatarstan, seeded first with a 23.54. Denis Korshikov with a 23.72 managed to take the second seed for the finals and Ivan Girev was next to finish under 24 seconds and qualified third with a 23.80.

100 back girls
In recent years, National champion and World Junior record holder Darya Ustinova set a high bar in the 100 backstroke for all the girls under 15. Valeria Egorova, only 13 years old, posted a fast time for her age group and won gold with 1:02.70. Maryanna Bobrova finished second with 1:04.29 and Katarina Mulutovic was third with a 1:04.29.

Boys 4×100 free relay
Volgograd, home city of multiple Olympic Champion Alexander Popov, is famous for its sprint talents: Vladimir Morozov and Danila Izotov represent Volgograd at National Championships. Young swimmers hold this tradition as Team Volgograd also broke the meet record with a 3:28.28 to outrun team Moscow’s 3.28.78 and Tatarstan Republic’s 3.31.30.

In the 4×100 mixed relay, Team Volgograd managed to break another meet record with 4:02.65 swum in both prelims and finals. They won the national title ahead of Saint-Petersburg (4:04.49) and Moscow (4:05.15).

Other results:

100 boys fly finals
1. Kuimov Egor 54.70
2. Ustinov Evgeny 55.75
3. Kazantsev Alexander 55.95

400 free boys
1. Potapov Yaroslav 3.58.54
2. Zhikharev Pyotr 3.59.19
3. Khorundzhy Mikhail 4.00.12

100 back boys
1. Kolesnikov Kliment 57.13
2. Tatarenko Pavel 57.54
3. Maurer Maxim 57.54

4×100 free girls
1. Moscow 3.57.37
2. Volgograd region 4.00.05
3. Krasnoyarsky Kray 4.01.72

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