17-Year-Old Anastasiya Shkurdai Crushes 56.95 100 Fly Lifetime Best

2020 BELARUS OPEN

17-year-old Anastasiya Shkurdai broke the Belarusian national record in the women’s 100m fly while competing on day 3 of the 2020 Belarus Open in Brest.

After posting a speedy mark of 58.27 in the prelims to represent the only sub-minute swimmer of the field, the European Short Course champion busted out a menacing statement swim of 56.95 to stand atop the podium with the gold medal around her neck.

Splits are not available at the time of publishing, but Shkurdai’s time tonight signified her first venture under the 57-second mark. Her lifetime best and previous national record stood at the 57.39 she produced for gold at the 2019 World Junior Championships. As such, Shkurdai’s outing here dropped just under half a second from the previous Belarusian standard.

Shkurdai’s 56.95 time tonight renders her just outside the list of top 25 performers all-time worldwide, again with the Belarusian having turned 17 just this year.

For perspective, Shkurdai’s time would check-in as the fastest ever among American females aged 17-18, inserting itself ahead of Regan Smith’s 57.34 from Des Moines Pro Swim in March of this year. The Belarusian’s performance also puts Canadian Penny Oleksiak’s World Junior Record on notice. That mark rests at the 56.46 the Canadian put up at the 2016 Olympic Games while Shkurdai’s time here is exactly half a second away.

In the men’s arena tonight, Ilya Shymanovich took the men’s 50m breaststroke with ease, crushing a winning time of 26.83 to top the field by over a second. He owns a lifetime best and national record of 26.55 from this same meet in 2019.

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swimfan210_
3 years ago

Great job! That’s an amazing time. At this point, any fast swimming would get me excited, so this totally put a smile on my face. I doubt that anyone even cares about this, but it’s 3rd fastest in the world for the 2019-20 season so far. I could see her possibly being the next great butterflyer on the women’s side. She’s been on a great streak for a while.
For some reason, it feels like time froze and it’s still in-season, not would-be taper time.

njones
Reply to  swimfan210_
3 years ago

🇨🇦 MacNeil might have a thing or two to say about that… 😉

Dee
3 years ago

Wow, not completely unexpected after her 100fr, but that’s a belter of a swim. Congrats to Anastasiya and Energy Standard.

Also, the swimmer pictured above is Kayla Van Der Merwe, not Anastasiya Shkurdai.

swimfan210_
Reply to  Dee
3 years ago

I can see her name on the cap…

Dee
Reply to  swimfan210_
3 years ago

Yeah, the picture has been changed.

Parker
3 years ago

What’s the WJR? she’s not that far from it I believe.

Admin
Reply to  Parker
3 years ago

56.4 by Penny Oleksiak. Sarah Sjostrom was 56.0 at the right age, but pre-recognition.

Birthday is January 3, 2003, so she’s age eligible, just barely.

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Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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