12 Meet Records Broken at Russian Youth Swimming Championships

2019 Russian Youth Championships

• May 4th-8th, 2019
• Iskra Swimming Complex, Volgograd
• 50m (LCM)
• Boys aged 15-16, Girls aged 13-14
• Meet Results

Over 520 young swimmers from 59 regions of the Russian Federation came together last week to race in the 2019 Russian Youth Championships in Volgograd. The meet, for boys aged 15-16 and girls aged 13-14, was the primary selection event for the European Youth Olympic Festival, which will be held from July 20th-28th in Baku, Azerbaijan. That roster has not yet been announced.

Among the top performers of the meet on the boys’ side was Muscovite Andrei Chulkov, who won a total of 8 medals: 6 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze.

Individual Victories for Chulkov, all in new best times:

• 100 Freestyle – 51.69 (previous best time – 52.65)
• 50 fly – 24.89 (previous best time – 24.96)
• 100 fly – 54.52 (previous best time – 55.35)

Meanwhile Polina Malakhova of St. Petersburg took 5 gold and 2 silver medals, including the 2 Meet Records: one in the 50 free (25.73) and the other in the 50 fly (27.11). Both swims undercut her previous personal best in the event, as did her runner-up time in the 100 fly of 1:01.57, which improved upon her prior best of 1:03.46.

The top individual girls’ performance of the meet, based on FINA Points, was a 56.12 in the 100 freestyle from Darya Trofimova. Following in the footsteps of many great Russian women in previous generations, her 2nd title came in the 200 free in 2:03.13 rather than the 50 (where she was 3rd in 26.24). That swim was good for 782 points on the FINA scale.

On the boy’s side, Ilya Borodin put up a 4:22.35 in the 400 IM for 802 FINA Points. That swim, while the highest-scoring performance of the meet, isn’t even close to a best time: he swam 4:19.43 and finished 4th at the all-ages Russian National Championships in April, where he was the youngest competitor to qualify for either the A or B final.

All Meet Records set:

• MALAKHOVA Polina (St. Petersburg) – 50 m freestyle – final – 25.73
• MALAKHOVA Polina (St. Petersburg) – 50 m butterfly – the final – 27.11
• BEZNOSOVA Yuliya (Kemerovo region) – 50 m breaststroke – final – 32.63
• HAKIROVA Yana (St. Petersburg) – 50 m breaststroke – preliminary swim – 32.68
• TROFIMOVA Darya (Novosibirsk region) – 100 m freestyle – final – 56.12
• CHMYKOVA Elizaveta (Moscow) – 50 m on the back – final – 29.89
• SHILKIN Ilya (Altai Krai) – 50 m breaststroke – preliminary swim – 28.93
• MORGUN Ivan (Volgograd region) – 800 m freestyle – final – 8:11.65
• BORODIN Ilya (Bryansk Region) – 400 m complex – final – 4:22.35
• 4×200 m freestyle – St. Petersburg (Alexandra KURILKINA, Ksenia YAKOVLEVA Valeria KOZLOVA, Polina MALAKHOV) – final – 8:33.18
• 4×200 m freestyle – St. Petersburg (Alexandra KURILKINA, Sophia NEHAEVA, Yana SHAKIROVA, Xenia YAKOVLEVA) – preliminary heat 2 – 8:45.83
• 4×200 m freestyle – Samara Region (Victoria Kalyakina, Viktoria VASILIEVA, Ksenia NENAROKOVA, Viktoriya RYZHKOVA) – preliminary heat 1 – 8:48.20