Malyutin Wins 200 Free, Rogozhinova Tops 400 IM On Day 1 of Russian Swimming Cup

2023 Swimming Cup of Russia

• Tuesday, July 25 – Sunday, July 30, 2023
• Kazan, Russia
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Live Results

The 2023 Swimming Cup of Russia kicked off on Tuesday from Kazan, with the competition hosting the top Russian and Belarusian swimmers who remain barred from competing at the World Aquatics Championships.

There were only two individual finals contested on the opening day, with veteran Martin Malyutin and youngster Daria Rogozhinova securing victories.

Malytuin used his patented back-half speed to win the men’s 200 freestyle in a time of 1:45.67, splitting 26.66/26.77 coming home to edge out Ivan Girev (1:45.79).

The time for Malytuin falls just shy of his season-best set in April (1:45.63), while his personal best sits at 1:44.79 from the 2021 European Championships in Budapest.

2005-born Roman Akimov rounded out the podium in 1:46.06, running down Mikhail Dovgalyuk (1:46.23) on the last 50 to chop two seconds off his previous PB.

In the women’s 400 IM, Rogozhinova, another up-and-comer having been born in 2006, topped the field in a time of 4:44.04, taking eight seconds off her best time entering the day (4:52.93). She initially went a PB of 4:47.75 in the heats.

Rogozhinova narrowly missed breaking the Russian Junior Record of 4:43.44, set by Anastasia Sorokina in 2021.

Taking a close second was Irina Krivonogova in 4:44.46, who missed her best time by half a second (4:43.95).

There were also timed finals in the men’s 400 free relay and women’s 800 free relay.

Topping the men’s event was St. Petersburg, who clocked 3:14.89 behind a 48.25 lead-off from Egor Kornev and a 48.24 third split from Vasily Kukushkin.

The fastest split in the field went to Grinev, who split 47.98, while Andrei Minakov was 48.61 on a lead-off leg.

Tatarstan won the women’s 800 free relay in 8:00.96, with Valeriia Salamatina highlighting the squad with a 1:58.68 anchor.

The field’s top split went to Daria Klepikova, who had a 1:58.32 anchor.

SEMI-FINAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Evgeniia Chikunova, the world record holder in the women’s 200 breast, led the 50 breast semis in a time of 30.60, followed by Belarusian Alina Zmushka (30.84). The time for Chikunova was just shy of her PB (30.54) set in April.
• In the men’s 100 breast semi-finals, Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich powered his way to a time of 58.82, while Kirill Prigoda (59.75) was the only other swimmer sub-1:00. Shymanovich has been as fast as 58.51 this year.
• Maria Kameneva set a new season-best to lead the women’s 50 back semis in 27.81, not too far off her lifetime best of 27.65 set in 2022.
• The men’s 100 back semis saw Kliment Kolesnikov pace the field in 52.88, while 2006-born Miron Lifintsev (53.14) qualified second in a new PB. Reigning Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov (53.28) qualified third. Kolesnikov has been as fast as 52.54 this year, while Rylov’s season-best is 53.21.