56th SINGAPORE NATIONAL AGE GROUP SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, March 17th – Sunday, March 22nd
- OCBC Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Results
A monster swim went down at the hands of 14-year-old Miron Bunakov on day one of the 56th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships.
Racing in the A-final of the men’s 100m freestyle at OCBC Aquatic Centre, Bunakov of Russia crushed a new lifetime best of 50.78 to finish in 4th place, entering the sub-51-second zone for the first time in his young career.
Opening in 24.63 and bringing it home in 26.15, Bunakov’s effort easily overtook his former best-ever performance of 52.66 notched at the 2025 edition of this annual competition. Splits for that prior outing included 25.68/26.98.
For perspective, Bunakov’s big-time 50.78 result here would check in as a new U.S. National Age Group Record for 13-14-year-old boys, handily erasing the current benchmark of 51.12 Thomas Heilman established in 2021.
The Russian now ranks #2 in the world among 18&U males, sitting only behind Britain’s Gabriel Shepherd‘s time of 49.16 from last month.
On the all-time front, Bunakov appears to be among the fastest 14-year-olds in history worldwide. Lithuania’s Tajus Juska hit 50.52, David Popovici of Romania logged 49.82 and Great Britain’s Jacob Whittle posted 49.97 as 14-year-olds.
On his performance, Bunakov said, “I am really happy with how the 100m freestyle went at the Singapore National Age Group Championships. Touching in 50.78 at the age of 14 years old, a time faster than the 13–14 National Age Group record in the US, as well as being the number one ranked swimmer for this event at my age in my home country of Russia, is something I’m very proud of.
“It is something that I have worked hard to achieve and makes all those early mornings worthwhile.
“Going into the race, my goal was to go out strong, but still have enough energy coming back. I felt good on the first 50 and just tried to stay relaxed and hold my technique on the second 50. I think that’s what made the difference, being able to keep the speed while staying efficient.
“An area I would like to improve on would be my turn and underwater section on the last 50, but I felt strong in the closing 20m, gaining on those in front of me.
“This result means a lot to me, especially at this stage. I’ve been working hard on my sprinting, and it’s great to see that paying off in a race like this. I’m really grateful to my coach, Coach Adrian Ong, teammates, and everyone who has been supporting me. This has definitely motivated me to keep pushing and improving.”
Swim available on youtube – search for
Miron Bunakov 50.78 at Singapore National Age Group Championships March 17 2026 (in lane 6, 4th from the camera)
Caught up massively on the last after what looked like a less than amazing turn…
Here’s the swim on Youtube – absolutely wicked last 50. https://youtu.be/sozJNsHykpw
13-14 NAG catching strays for NO reason
I believe Nicholas Castella went the exact same time (50.78) at 14
because of SwimSwam’s reverse chronological story system I don’t have anyplace better to post this question than this, the most recent story posted: Any updates on the China Open event that starts in 2 days? Streaming/TV coverage options?
not optimistic since you need wechat just to access the live results
“The Russian now ranks #2 in the world among 18&U males, sitting only behind Britain’s Gabriel Shepherd‘s time of 49.16 from last month”
At least Luka Hoek (ESP) and Aran Bissett (GBR) missing