2025 VLADIMIR SALNIKOV CUP
- Friday, December 19th & Saturday, December 20th
- St. Petersburg, Russia
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- Results
The 2025 Vladimir Salnikov Cup kicked off tonight in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the two-day competition offering the nation’s swimmers a chance to cap off their 2025 year of racing on a high note.
We saw two meet records go down on the evening, with both occurring on the men’s side of the house.
First in the 50m breaststroke, 29-year-old Olympian Kirill Prigoda unleashed a time of 25.59 to grab the gold.
Prigoda held off Oleg Kostin and Danil Semyaninov, who both were under the 26-second threshold as well to earn the minor medals.
Kotin stopped the clock at 25.82 and Semyaninov hit 25.95 to round out the podium.
As for Prigoda, his effort equaled the 25.59 meet mark that Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich established at the 2023 edition of this competition.
It also came within striking distance of his personal best of 25.48 he put on the books during the semi-finals at last year’s Short Course World Championships
There in Budapest, Prigoda ultimately hit 25.56 to snag the silver medal as a neutral athlete.
On-fire 21-year-old swimmer Egor Kornev was responsible for the other meet record going down, with the speedster getting to the wall first in the men’s 100m freestyle.
Kornev turned in a time of 45.18 for the gold, handily surpassing the former Vladimir Salnikov Cup record of 45.71 by Danila Izotov.
Tonight, Kornev opened in a 21.56 scorcher and closed in an impressive 23.62 to get the job done.
Alexandr Shchegolev was neraly a second behind to earn silver in 46.10 and Andrei Minakov bagged the bronze in 46.17.
As fast as Kornev’s performance was this evening, his best-ever outing remains at the 44.99 stunner nabbed at last month’s Russian Championships to become the world’s #5 performer in history.
Competing in the men’s 100m backstroke, 24-year-old Pavel Samusenko upset the stacked field en route to putting up the best time of his career.
Samusenko grabbed gold in a time of 48.78 to beat out Kliment Kolesnikov who settled for silver in 49.18.
19-year-old sensation Miron Lifnitsev placed 3rd this evening in 50.14.
Entering this competition, Samusenko’s lifetime best rested at the 49.20 turned in for 4th place at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.
Tonight, he split 23.20/25.58 to become the 6th-quickest man of all time.
Top 6 Men’s SCM 100 Backstroke Performers All-Time
- Hubi Kos (HUN) – 48.16, 2025
- Coleman Stewart (USA) – 48.33, 2021
- Ryan Murphy (USA) – 48.50, 2022
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) – 48.58, 2020
- Miron Lifintsev (RUS) – 48.76, 2024
- Pavel Samusenko (RUS) – 48.78, 2025
The women’s events were highlighted by a victory in the 100m butterfly at the hands of Daria Klepikova.
Klepikova registered a winning result of 56.20 to eke out the win by just .08 ahead of Anastasiia Kulseshova who hit 56.28 for silver.
Polina Malakhova rounded out the podium tonight in 57.85.
Finally, 200m breast world record holder Evgenia Chikunova got the job done in the 100m sprint, putting up a solid outing of 1:04.65.
Nika Godun was next in line at 1:05.67 and Sofya Anufrieva also landed on the podium in 1:05.84, good enough for bronze.
Chikunova has been as swift as 1:03.53 in hr career, a time she delivered for gold at the 2022 Solidarity Games.
Kolesnikov kinda just fading away. Thought he was gonna be an enormous star a few years ago.
Literally won a world title this year
Dude turned into the Cam McEvoy of backstroke
Insane at the 50 has no endurance for the 100 tho
he was a 52 flat last season lol
Those guys are getting all geared up for Enhanced Games (Russian Championships).
It feels like Samusenko is improving quickly and might surpass Lifintsev and Kolesnikov in the near future. Lifintsev hasn’t improved much this year…
Lifintsev unofficially became the 2nd fastest performer in the LCM 100 back (51.78 leading off the MMR) this year and improved 0.3 seconds compared to last year.
Kornev at 45.1 is also really impressive – I forget if he’s more of a LC/SC swimmer, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the podium this year at Euro’s
might next one to go 46 especially if hes next to Pop at euros