Chikunova Produces 2:15.36 SCM 200 Breast For 4th-Fastest Swim Ever

2023 RUSSIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• November 20th – November 25th
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• SCM (25m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap/Day 5 Recap
• Results

The 2023 Russian Short Course Championships concluded in St. Petersburg with 19-year-old Evgenia Chikunova putting on a show in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

Already the gold medalist in the 50m and 100m distances at this competition, the long course World Record holder completed her sweep with a head-turning time of 2:15.36 in the 200m.

Opening in 1:05.38 and closing in 1:09.98, Chikunova once again beat her peers Alina Zmushka of Belarus and fellow Russian Yuliya Efimova. Zmushka touched over 4 seconds back in 2:19.67 while Efimova, competing in her first meet post-Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, rounded out the podium in 2:23.03.

As for Chikunova, her time here registers as the 2nd-best of her young career, sitting only behind her European Record of 2:14.70 notched 2 years ago. In fact, her 2:15.36 outing checks in as the 4th-fastest performance in history. She now ranks #1 in the world this season.

Also making noise on the last night was 19-year-old Aleksandr Stepanov who already nailed a new Russian national record in the 800m free.

Taking on the men’s 1500m, the teen produced a mighty 14:24.17 for the gold, blowing away his previous lifetime best of 14:37.40 in the process. Stepanov was able to hold off Kirill Martynychev who put up a silver medal-worthy 14:28.73. Well back was Ivan Morgun who bagged bronze in 14:42.03.

Stepanov now represents the 4th-quickest performer in the world this season.

Additional Notes

• The women’s 100m fly saw 25-year-old Arina Surkova produce the 2nd national record of her championships campaign. She posted 55.63 to take the gold. You can read more about her record here.
• Egor Kornev denied Kliment Kolesnikov the gold in the men’s 100m free. Kornev clocked a big-time personal best of 45.97 to get to the wall first, splitting 21.95/24.02 in the process. K2 settled for silver in 46.23 and Andrei Minakov also landed on the podium in 46.52 for bronze. Kornev now ranks #2 in the world this season.
• Anna Egorova earned 400m free gold in a time of 4:01.13, registering the 6th-swiftest performance of her career.
• Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov topped the men’s 200m back podium in a result of 1:50.20. He’s been as fast as 1:46.37 in his career, a time he turned in during the 2020 International Swimming League (ISL) season.
• Belarusian ace Ilya Shymanovich got it done in the men’s 50m breast, logging 25.72 as the victor. That earned the edge over national record holder Kirill Prigoda who hit 25.94 as the only other racer under the 26-second threshold.