2025 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- April 13-18, 2025
- Kazan, Russia
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Livestream
The 2025 Russian Swimming Championships continued in Kazan on Tuesday, and the third day of racing was action-packed. Finals of the men’s 100 butterfly, women’s 100 freestyle, women’s 200 backstroke, and men’s 800 freestyle were on the schedule of events along with semifinals of the women’s 50 butterfly, men’s 50 freestyle, women’s 100 breaststroke, and men’s 50 backstroke.
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.
In the men’s 50 free semifinals, Egor Kornev claimed the top spot with a time of 21.54. Pavel Samusenko qualified 2nd with a time of 22.01, while Kliment Kolesnikov advanced 3rd with a 22.02. Kornev’s time of 21.54 is now the world-leading mark, surpassing Italy’s Leonardo Deplano’s 21.62 set just two days ago. Kornev also torched his previous best time of 21.70 from the Russian Cup last July.
Samusenko scraped under his previous best of 22.08 as well, which was set back in July of 2023. Kolesnikov has been as swift as 21.69 in this event back in 2022.
Kolesnikov and Samusenko returned to the pool later in the session for the 50 back, where they produced the 2nd and 3rd fastest times in the world this year. Samusenko punched a time of 24.25, following a best-time 24.26 in prelims, positioning himself just behind Shaine Casas‘ world-leading 24.23 from early March.
Kolesnikov logged 24.33 to qualify 2nd for tomorrow’s final, where he may be targeting a sub-24 performance after his 52.04 world-leading time in yesterday’s 100 back final. Kolesnikov holds the world record in this event at 23.55, set in July 2023.
18-year-old Miron Lifintsev also inserted himself into the top five world rankings, punching 24.40 for 4th.
Current World Rankings, Men’s 50 Back:
- Shaine Casas (USA) – 24.23 (3/06)
- Pavel Samusenko (RUS) – 24.25 (4/13)*
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) – 24.33 (4/13)*
- Miron Lifintsev (RUS) – 24.40 (4/13)*
- Ji-hwan Yoon (KOR) – 24.48 (3/27)
A national record was broken by 23-year-old Andrei Minakov in the men’s 100 fly, where he won with a time of 50.82, shaving 0.01 seconds off his previous record of 50.83 set in 2019. His performance also secured him a spot under the Russian qualifying time of 51.51 for the World Championships.
Splits Comparison:
| Minakov’s New National Record | Minakov’s Old National Record | |
| First 50 | 23.81 | 23.50 |
| Second 50 | 27.01 | 27.33 |
| Total Time | 50.82 | 50.83 |
Current World Rankings:
- Noe Ponti (SUI) – 50.27 (4/5)
- Hubert Kos (HUN) – 50.55 (4/13)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 50.67 (4/13)
- Andrei Minakov (RUS) – 50.82 (4/16)* & Shaine Casas (USA) – 50.82 (3/8)
- N/A
In a hotly contested women’s 200 back final, Daria Zarubenkova touched 1st by just 0.02, finishing in 2:10.44 over defending champion Milana Stepanova‘s 2:10.46.
Stepanova, just 16, led for most of the way, hitting the 100-meter turn over half a second ahead of Zarubenkova and increasing that margin to 0.64 at the final turn. However, Zarubenkova roared home in 33.01 to Stepanova’s 33.67 to clip her at the wall. Both swimmers dipped under the benchmark time (2:11.08) required for the World Championships this summer.
Neither Darya Trofimova nor Alexandra Kuznetsova were able to match their best times from yesterday’s semis, with both regressing to 54 second swims. Trofimova, who qualified 1st in the semis with 53.75, finished 2nd in 54.17. Kuznetsova, who advanced 2nd in the semis with 53.82, placed 3rd with 54.28.
Darya Klepikova took full advantage, timing her rounds correctly, notching a career-best 53.53 to take gold, way under her 54.61 from last night. Both Klepikova and Trofimova cleared the 54.25 required Russian qualifying time for the World Championships.
In the women’s 100 breast semis, Evgeniia Chikunova advanced 1st to the final with a time of 1:06.45. Veteran Yulia Efimova was over a second back at 1:07.44. Efimova holds the Russian record for the event with a time of 1:04.36, set in 2017, while Chikunova, who is the 2nd-fastest Russian of all time, has a personal best of 1:04.92. Yesterday, Chikunova won the 50 breast in 30.72, just ahead of Efimova’s 30.83.
Only two swimmers broke the 26-second barrier in the women’s 50 fly semis: 17-year-old Maria Osetrova and 26-year-old Arina Surkova. Osetrova claimed the top spot in 25.81, setting a new Russian Youth Record, surpassing Darya Klepikova‘s previous mark of 25.98 from 2021. Surkova, who holds the Russian record in this event with a 25.30 from the same meet in 2023, qualified 2nd for tomorrow’s final at 25.92.
Russian record holder Alexander Stepanov, 21, won the men’s 800 free with a time of 7:49.36, missing the World Championships qualifying time of 7:47.02. Stepanov has a lifetime best of 7:42.47 from the 2023 edition of these championships. You can view all of his splits from tonight’s swim below.
