Vladimir Morozov
Born June 16, 1992 in Russia, Vladimir Morozov is a 2012 London Olympian and NCAA Champion when he swam as a USC Trojan. Morozov moved to the U.S. when he was just a freshman in high school – he attended Torrance High School and chose to swim for USC, where he studied Economics.
High school
During his senior year at Torrance High School, Swimming World Magazine named Morozov the 2010 Male High School Swimmer of the Year after breaking two national high school records in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle.
University of Southern California
Morozov earned multiple accolades as a swimmer for USC. As just a freshman he was a four-time All-American and was named the 2011 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year. In his second year at USC Morozov repeated his four All-American honors, finishing in the top eight of the 50 and 100 freestyle. He was only the second Trojan in history to finish in the top eight of the 50 freestyle back-to-back years. In his junior season, Morozov became the first person to ever swim under 18 seconds in the 50 freestyle even though it was a relay split. He also broke Cesar Cielo’s 100 freestyle NCAA and U.S. Open Record, taking both the 50 and 100 freestyle titles. Instead of competing in his final season, Morozov chose to go pro.
London Olympics
Morozov swam at his first Olympic Games in 2012 – he made the London team as a member of the 400m freestyle relay, which won a bronze medal. He also swam a leg on the Russian 400m medley relay team that finished 12th overall. The 2012 Olympics were a breakout competition for Morozov.
Post London
Later in 2012 Morozov won seven medals at the 2012 European Short Course Championships, including two golds in the 100m freestyle and the 100m IM. At the 2012 World Championships, Morozov brought home two more gold medals in the 50m and 100m freestyles – he set a new national record in the 50m distance. At the end of the year he was awarded the Medal of the Order “For Services to the Fatherland” II degree, which was given to him for his contribution to the development of sports.
Barcelona World Championships
In 2013 he qualified for the World Championships in Barcelona, swimming both the 100m and 50m freestyle, winning silver in the 50. He also swam on the 400m freestyle relay, winning bronze.
2015 World Championships
Morozov entered the 2015 World Championships as one of the fastest 50-meter freestyle swimmers in the world. He’s also extremely versatile, with the ability to swim any stroke. In the 50-meter free Morozov advanced to the championship final of the event, but only after barely sliding through the semi-finals with an 8th place finish. In the championship final Morozov dropped a half-second to finish 4th just .01 seconds from a bronze medal.
He also took on the 50-meter back, proving how versatile he is. Morozov advanced to the championship final after finish 6th in the semi-finals. He moved up a place in the final to take 5th overall after dropped just a few hundredths of a second. Morozov also swam the third leg of the 4×100-meter free relay, splitting the fastest leg on the relay to help the Russians pick up a silver medal. Although Morozov was disqualified in the individual 100 freestyle event, his split on the relay was the fastest in the entire event.
Doping scandal
Morozov was named as a part of the Russian “disappearing positives” program that the World Anti-Doping Agency’s McLaren IP Report alleges was undertaken by the Russian anti-doping regime. He was initially banned from competing in the 2016 Olympic Games but was later reinstated in time to compete in Rio.
2016 Rio Olympics
Morozov was a member of the Russian 4×100 meter freestyle relay that finished 4th in Rio, but the Russians faced the pool in a hostile environment after getting booed before they even got wet in regards to the latest Russian doping scandal.
2017 World Championships
In Budapest Morozov finished just 0.03 seconds off a podium finish in the 50 meter freestyle. He touched 4th in 21.46. On the final night he managed to secure a bronze medal when he joined Rylov Evgeny, Kirill Prigoda and Aleksandr Popkov in the 4×100 meter medley relay. Morozov swam the freestyle leg in a split of 46.69, the fastest split in the field. Russia finished behind USA and Great Britain.
2017 SCM European Championships
Morozov took gold in the 50 freestyle in 20.31 which broke the Championship Record. He beat Ben Proud by 0.35 seconds. Morozov was also apart of the 4×50 freestyle, mixed freestyle and medley relays. The latter broke the World Record with the time of 1:30.44.
2018 European Championships
Vlad won 3 more medals in Glasgow, including a gold in the 4×100 free relay and silvers in the 4×100 medley and mixed medley relays. He also swam the 50 free where he placed 4th (21.74), the 100 free where he was the 3rd fastest Russian in prelims (48.75) and therefore didn’t advance to finals, and the 50 back, where he was again 4th (24.69).
2018 World Cup
Vlad competed in many stops of the world cup series, notably including stop 1 of cluster 2 in Eindhoven, where be lowered his own world record in the 100 IM by .04 with a time of 50.26.
2018 Short Course World Championships
On day 1, Morozov aided Russia to silver with a field best 45.06 split on the 3rd leg of the 4×100 free relay. On day 2, he swam on Russia’s bronze medal mixed 4×50 free relay. Day 4 saw the Russian claim his first individual world title since 2012 in the 50 free with a time of 20.33. Earlier in the session, Morozov led off Russia’s 4×50 free relay, which again earned silver behind the USA. On the last day, Morozov earned 2 more medals, first of which was silver in the 100 free behind American Caeleb Dressel. He finished off the meet with another silver in the men’s 4×100 medley relay, anchoring Russia to 2nd behind the USA.
2019 World Championships
Morozov started his world championships in the men’s 4×100 free relay, where he split 47.62 on the 2nd leg to help Russia get a silver medal. After scratching the 100 free, Morozov placed 4th in the 50 free in 21.53, missing a medal by just .08.
Morozov finished his program by anchoring the 4×100 medley relay in 47.02 to help Russia earn bronze in a time of 3:28.81, a new national record.
