2018 Salnikov Cup
- Friday, December 21st – Saturday, December 22nd
- St. Petersburg, Russia
- SCM
- Results
The 2018 Salnikov Cup wrapped up this weekend in St. Petersburg, where Russian and non-Russian swimmers ended their 2018 on a high note.
Sergei Fesikov took the men’s 50m freestyle, clocking 21.41 for the win. That managed to hold off Mikhail Vekovishchev, who roared tot the wall just .28 later in 21.60. Rounding out the top 3 was Artem Selin of Krasnoyarsk Territory, who finished in 21.66.
In the 100m free, however, it was teen titan Kliment Kolesnikov who got the job done in World Junior Record-setting fashion. Clocking 46.11, Kolesnikov’s winning time not only beat out runner-up Vladislav Grinev and Vekovishchev in the race, but it also shaved .01 off of the previous WJR held by 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers.
You can read more about Kolesnikov’s history-making 100m free swim from St. Petersburg here.
The men’s 200m free saw Martin Malyutin throw down a zinger in 1:42.73 to take gold in a time not far off what he produced in the Hangzhou final. Tonight, Malyutin split 51.06/53.0 to register his victorious sub-1:43, the only one of the St. Petersburg field. Back in Hangzhou, en route to earning 6th place, Malyutin clocked 1:42.46.
Kolesnikov was also in this 200m free final, finishing 4th in 1:44.21. The teen also raced the 50m backstroke, where Fesikov actually got the leg up to take gold. Fesikov notched 23.33 to hit the wall .06 ahead of Kolesnikov who earned 50m back silver in 23.39.
Kolesnikov also had to settle for silver in the 100m back event, where the SCM 200 back world champion in Hangzhou, Evgeny Rylov, took this sprint in a monstrous 49.11. That mark would have easily beaten American Ryan Murphy in Hangzhou, as Murphy won in 49.23.
For his part, Kolesnikov took silver behind Rylov in 49.67, just .27 over the 49.40 he produced for bronze in that Hangzhou race.
Malyutin doubled up on freestyle victories in St. Petersburg, also taking the 400m free in 3:41.14. He was 3:37.75 most recently in Hangzhou, a mark which fell just .21 off of Gabriele Detti of Italy’s bronze medal time of 3:37.54.
Short Course World Championships silver medalist in the 50m breast, Ilya Shymanovich of Belarus, beat the field in the same event here in St. Petersburg, throwing down 26.00. Russian national record holder Kirill Prigoda settled for silver in 26.35, while Oleg Kostin took bronze in 26.41.
Shymanovich also wrangled up 100m breast gold, stopping the clock in 57.54 to represent the only racer to delve under 58 seconds in the field.
16-year-old Andrei Minakov closed out his impressive year of racing with a 50.13 scorcher in the men’s 100m butterfly. Splitting 23.30/26/83, Minakov beat out Belarusian Yauhen Tsurkin and teammate Vekovishchev in the race, leading both runners-up to also clock sub-51 second efforts.
Tsurkin took silver in 50.67, while Vekovishchev earned bronze in 50.85. Minakov’s time falls within a second of Chinese swimmer Li Zhuhaho’s World Junior Record of 49.53 set at the World Cup Singapore last year. FINA, however, still lists the 50.53 benchmark standard as the WJR.
Minakov’s time would have taken 7th in the Hangzhou final. The teen already notched a new Russian Senior National Record in the LCM version of the 100 fly, clocking 51.12 for Youth Olympic Games gold.
Germany got another win in their column at the meet, courtesy of Franziska Hentke‘s victory in the women’s 200m fly. Blasting a time of 2:05.15, Hentke cleared the field by almost 5 solid seconds. The next fastest competitor, also non-Russian, was Zsuzsanna Jakabos of Hungary, who registered 2:10.14 for silver.
Hentke’s 2:05.15 time tonight would have finished 5th in the final at the 2018 Short Course World Championships in Hangzhou.
Additional Highlights:
- 2016 Olympic champion in the women’s 50m free, Pernille Blume, produced the only sub-24 second time of the field here in St. Petersburg. Blume took 50m free gold in 23.98, with the speediest Russian represented by Maria Kameneva‘s runner-up 24.17.
- Blume also nabbed the 100m free gold in a time of 52.36 ahead of Russia’s Daria K. Ustinova‘s runner-up mark of 53.43.
- Samara’s Anastasia Guzhenkova was the women’s 200m free victor in 1:55.08.
- Visiting German athlete Sarah Koehler overpowered the women’s 400m free field, taking the top of the podium in a mark of 4:03.30. She holds her nation’s standard in the event at the 3:59.12 registered at the 2017 Short Course European Championships that gave her silver.
- Minus Kolesnikov and Rylov in the final, the men’s 200m back saw former Louisville Cardinal athlete Grigory Tarasevich take the top prize in 1:52.07.
- Home city swimmer Daria Chikunova was the women’s 100m breaststroke winner with her effort of 1:05.45.
- On-fire Fesikov earned another win at the meet, taking the men’s 50m fly in 22.79.
- Andreeva Beliakova was the women’s 200m IM winner, earning a podium-topping time of 2:09.58.
I assume this is SCM?
Yes Rylov didn’t break the WR in the 100 back by 1.7 seconds.
I don’t understand why Rylov didn’t swim 100 back in China. He had great chances to sweep all three backstroke events.
He didn’t qualify
After winning 50 and 200, they should have put him in the relay
He swam few freestyle relay prelims, on top of that Russia should share the relay duties (and possibilities for medals) for other backstrokers who are also good. At Olympics Russia may not make this swap, but at SC World swimming championships with 7 possible relay medals for each men, they should share the wealth.
Thanks for the nice article. In the paragraph about the 100 fly, you state “FINA, however, still lists the 50.53 benchmark standard as the WJR.” To what does this refer? Is it a typo? Thanks.
Li Zhuhao did a 49.53 at the World Cup last year while he was 18 years old, but his time is still not officially recognised as a WJR.
Tomoe Hvas also broke the old WJR in 100 fly at World Championships.