Anastasia Sorokina Breaks 34-Year Old Russian Youth Record

2018 LEN EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

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During the 2018 European Junior Swimming Championships, Russia set a great number of records en route to taking both the team trophy and topping the medal table with 34 total, including 18 golds.

Among those prolific marks was a new Championship and European Junior Record in the 50 back from Daria Vaskina (27.90), a new Championship and European Junior Record in the mixed 400 medley relay, and 3 Championship Records from Kliment Kolesnikov.

None of those records, however, had stood as long as the one broken by Anastasia Sorokina on the final day of the meet in the women’s 200 IM. There, the 15-year old took gold in 2:14.38, which broke a 34-year old record in the event. The mark had previously stood since 1984, when Yelena Dendeberova swam a 2:14.55.

Editor’s Note: Russian Junior Records are for 16-and-younger in girls’ races, and 18-and-younger in boys’ races.

Dendeberova would go on four years later to win a silver medal in the same 200 IM at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.

“I knew about the existence of such a record, but did not know the exact time, so I did not target it,” Sorokina said after her race. “But I’m very glad that I could beat it. I have a storm of emotions. When I was selected for the European Junior Championship in Moscow, at that time my best result was 2.16.67. Now I took off two seconds.

“I want to thank everyone for helping me to prepare so well for these competitions – the All-Russian Swimming Federation, which organizes training camps, my coaches Alexei Lobankov, Victor Yuryevich Lychkov, Dmitri Valentinovich Denisenko, in whose team I was training at the training camp, and also my first coaches Rodionov Elena Anatolievna and Yerisova Innu Anatolievna.”

Dendeberova still has the country’s oldest National Record, for either junior or elite levels, in swimming – her 400 IM, also from 1984, which stands at 4:43.78. The next-oldest is the men’s junior 400 free record, which has stood since 1991 at 3:49.02. That’s held by Yevgeny Sadyovi, who would go on to win triple gold in the 200 free, 400 free, and on the 800 free relay for the Unified Team at the 1992 Olympic Games.