Uvis Kalnins, the 20-year-old Latvian Olympian and current Missouri State Bear, broke four national records at the Latvian National Championships on May 31st and June 1st, showing some outstanding range and versatility.
Kalnins had four of the five records broken, with a pair of swimmers (Janis Saltans and Antons Voitovs) also getting under the 50 back mark. Kalnin’s records came in the 50, 800 and 1500 frees and the 400 IM.
The sprint race saw Kalnins go 22.91 to just sneak under the previous record of 22.95 held by former Kenyon College standout Andrejs Duda. Kalnins then moved from the meet’s shortest race to it’s longest, breaking the 1500 freestyle record and nabbing the 800 mark with his split going out. He was 8:26.74 at the 800 mark to finish in 16:22.59. That 1500 knocked down the mark set by Valerijs Kalmikovs over 20 years ago.
Kalnins’ final record came in the 400 IM, where he went 4:25.68. That smashed almost two seconds off the Latvian mark of 4:27.42 set by Guntars Deicmans.
The 50 backstroke was another point of high drama for the meet. In prelims, Antons Voitovs became the first Latvian man under 26 seconds, going 25.86. The holder of the old record, Janis Saltans, also broke 26 for the first time, going 25.93. But at finals, Saltans stole the record back, going 25.83 to rewrite his name into the record books. Despite the records, the event win itself went to Estonian Ralf Tribuntsov in 25.74, a new Estonian national record.
You can find full results here and a recap (in Latvian) from the Latvian swimming website here.
