2025 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- April 13-18, 2025
- Kazan, Russia
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Livestream
- Day 1 Recap
The second finals session of the 2025 Russian Championships included the men’s 100 backstroke, women’s 50 backstroke, men’s 400 freestyle, women’s 50 breaststroke, women’s 200 butterfly, men’s 100 breaststroke, men’s 200 IM, women’s 800 freestyle, and mixed 4×100 medley relay. Semifinals of the men’s 100 butterfly and women’s 100 freestyle were also contested.
This meet serves as the sole selection opportunity for the Russian team for the World Championships in Singapore this July. Swimmers must place 1st or 2nd in the ‘A’ final and achieve a qualifying time to be considered for selection.
The team will then be formed based on the head coach’s recommendation, taking into account the athletes’ performances. The final decision will be made by the Presidium of the Russian Federation of Aquatic Sports.
Alina Gaifutdinova won the women’s 50 back in 27.62, a significant drop from the 18-year-old’s 27.90 in last night’s semifinal. She was also well under the World Championships consideration standard of 28.01, strengthening her case for selection to the team in July. Representing Team Kaluga Oblast, she was runner-up last year with a 27.93 and ranked 9th in the world in 2024 with her personal best of 27.54.
Belgorod Oblast’s Maria Osetrova finished 2nd in 28.26 and 2009-born Milana Stepanova from Saint Petersburg took 3rd in 28.48. Osetrova is no stranger to this 50 back sprint, as she got the job done for gold in the SCM version of this event at last December’s Vladimir Salnikov Cup.
Nobody neared the World Championships consideration time of 3:47.23 in the men’s 400 free, but with the Russian title on the line, 17-year-old Egor Babinich of Novgorod Oblast came out on top with a winning time of 3:48.71. He was closely followed by 18-year-old Nikolay Kolesnikov of Moscow, who touched in 3:49.16 for 2nd place. They were the only two swimmers able to break the 3:50 barrier in tonight’s final.
Babinich closed in 27.97 on the final 50, while Kolesnikov was slightly quicker with a 27.78. Despite Kolesnikov’s faster finishing split, Babinich’s stronger middle 200 made all the difference, allowing him to hold on for the win by 0.45.
In the women’s 50 breast, Evgeniia Chikunova claimed victory with a time of 30.72, edging out veteran Yulia Efimova, who touched just behind in 30.83. Chukinova was a little shy of her 30.54 lifetime best from this meet in 2023, where she completely obliterated the world record in the 200 breast (2:17.55). Efimova holds the Russian record with her 29.52 from the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona.
Neither Chikunova or Efimova cleared the 30.45 qualifying time for the Singapore World Championships.
Kirill Prigoda took the win in the men’s 100 breast final with a time of 59.40, splitting 27.49 at the halfway mark and closing in 31.91. The 29-year-old from St. Petersburg held off Danil Semyaninov, who finished 2nd in 59.65. Both swimmers finished under the 1:00 mark, and both undercut the World Championship consideration time of 59.69.
Defending champion Ivan Kozhakin notched a time of 1:00.14 for 3rd, over a second shy of his personal-best 59.04 from 2023.
Longtime National Team member Prigoda has a personal best of 58.92 in this event, so look for him to potentially near that mark as the World Championships in July draw closer.
16-year-old Serafima Fokina stunned national record holder Svetlana Chimrova in the women’s 200 fly, winning with a time of 2:10.46. Chimrova, who owns a career-quickest mark of 2:07.33 from 2018, finished 2nd in 2:11.62. Fokina won this event at the BRIC Games last June (2:11.72), and held a best time of 2:11.24 prior to tonight’s swim. Notably, the consideration time for the Worlds was set at 2:09.21, so she was a bit shy of that benchmark.
Ilya Borodin captured the win in the men’s 200 IM with a time of 1:58.56, splitting 26.02 on the fly, 29.91 on back, 34.07 on breast, and closing with a 28.56 free leg. Alexey Sudarev finished just behind in 1:58.92, opening slightly faster with a 25.81 fly split, followed by 30.63 on back, 33.95 on breast, and a 28.53 on free. Both 21-year-olds broke the two-minute barrier, but Borodin’s stronger backstroke leg was too much for Sudarev to overcome.
Borodin nabbed the Russian record in this event with a time of 1:56.75 at the Russian Cup last July, while Sudarev has been as swift as 1:57.74.
With the Russian World Championships standard set at 1:58.01, neither swimmer qualified with tonight’s times, but both would have made the meet if they matched their lifetime bests. Borodin should have no problem making the time in the 400 IM, where his Russian record of 4:08.05 is way under the time of 4:16.00 required.
The men’s 100 back did not disappoint, with veteran ace Kliment Kolesnikov stealing the win by 0.11 over Miron Lifintsev. Both swimmers posted the two fastest times in the world so far this year. Kolesnikov hit the wall in 52.04, while Lifintsev touched in 52.15, both breaking the previous world-leading mark of 52.24 set by Hubert Kos just last week at the Hungarian National Championships.
Pavel Samusenko swam a huge lifetime best of 52.40 for 3rd, but missed the top two, who achieved the World Championships selection time of 53.46. As a result, he is unlikely to make the trip to Singapore, although the final decision rests with the Presidium of the Russian Federation of Aquatic Sports.
In the men’s 100 fly semifinals, four swimmers broke the 52-second barrier, setting up an exciting final. Andrei Minakov led the way with a time of 51.13, followed closely by Mikhail Vekovishchev in 51.38, Mikhail Antipov in 51.49, and Roman Shevlyakov in 51.58. The qualification time for the Worlds is set at 51.51, so the race for the top spots tomorrow promises to be highly competitive, with all three swimmers already under the required mark for selection.
Minakov, who competes for Stanford in the NCAA system in the United States, is the defending champion with his 2024 time of 50.86.
Darya Trofimova qualified 1st for tomorrow’s final of the women’s 100 free with a best time of 53.75, well under the World Championships qualifying time of 54.25. Alexandra Kuznetsova advanced 2nd in career-best 53.82, while Gayfutdinova, who won the 50m back just an hour earlier, qualified 3rd in 54.55. Darya Klepikova (54.61), Arina Surkova (54.75), and Darya Surushkina (54.85) rounded out the top six.
Republic of Tatarstan’s Sofia Dyakova won the women’s 800 free in 8:24.93, well under the qualifying time of 8:31.72. You can view all of her splits below.
To end the session, Lifintsev, Prigoda, Chimrova, and Kuznetsova all reentered the pool to help Saint Petersburg win the mixed 4×100 medley relay. Lifintsev led off with a split of 53.25, followed by Prigoda who posted a 59.00 on breast. Chimrova swam a 59.31 on fly, and Kuznetsova anchored with a 53.55 on free.
I know I am a little lazy, but it would been so much easier if the results listed
1)
2)
3)
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for each events final/semifinal
usually this is reserved for full recaps/live recaps, because otherwise the labor required is not worth it. The mens 400m Free results, for example, were really not anything worth writing about.
Would be helpful when the meet results aren’t in English and in a PDF so you can’t use the browser to translate but I can understand why they might not want to do it.
Russia also with a deep fly group. 51.5 is fourth out of semis.