2026 Russian Swimming Cup: Klepikova, Kolesnikov, and Prigoda Pick Up Wins on Night One

Russian Swimming Cup

• Saint Petersburg, Russia
• April 17-21, 2026
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Live Results

The Russian Swimming Cup kicked off in Saint Petersburg today. The first finals session saw a few of Russia’s stars in action in their first meet since World Aquatics lifted the neutrality restrictions on Russia and Belarus last week.

The meet kicked off with the women’s 50 breaststroke. Yulia Efimova won the event in 30.86, a tenth ahead of Nika Godun‘s 30.96 in 2nd overall.

In the men’s 50 butterfly, Oleg Kostin swam 22.96 to beat Egor Kornev by just nine hundredths. Kostin’s swim was just off his personal best of 22.62 from April of 2023, but was faster than the 23.15 he swam last season.

The 100 free saw Daria Klepikova, who finished 5th at Worlds in the event, swim 53.86 for the gold by four tenths over Alina Gaifutdinova‘s 54.26 in 2nd place. This swim was just three tenths off the 53.53 she swam to win the event at this meet last year.

After Klepikova came Kliment Kolesnikov in the 100 backstroke. He swam 53.20 to beat Pavel Samusenko‘s 53.30 by just a tenth. Kolesnikov was more than a second slower than the 52.04 he swam at this meet last year.

Daria Zarubenkova won the 200 back in 2:10.25, a new personal best, dropping a tenth from the 2:10.35 she swam at the World Championships in August. Milana Stepanova finished 2nd in 2:10.76, about a second off the 2:09.57 she swam at the 2025 World Championships.

In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Kirill Prigoda swam 2:09.90, a second slower than his 2:08.55 at this meet last year. He won the gold medal, touching three tenths ahead of Alexander Zigalov‘s 2:10.19.

The women’s 200 butterfly saw Serafima Fokina swim the top time of 2:10.36, touching more than two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Fokina’s best is 2:07.67 from the 2025 World Junior Championships. Victoriia Tokareva finished 2nd in 2:12.67, a three second drop from the 2:15.59 she swam at this meet last year.

The final session wrapped up with the women’s 1500 freestyle. 17-year-old Ksenia Misharina set a new personal best time of 16:03.42 to earn the win. She dropped about a second from the 16:04.21 she swam at last April’s Russian Championships. Anna Arshavskaya finished 2nd just over 20 seconds back in 16:23.96.