Chikunova, Sorokina & Klepikova Lower Russian Junior Records On Day 3 In Kazan

2021 RUSSIAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• April 3-9, 2021
• Palace of Water Sports, Kazan, Russia
• Prelims: 9:00 am local/2:00 am Eastern, Finals: 6:00 pm local/11:00 am Eastern
• LCM (50m)
• Russian Olympic Qualification Procedures
• Meet Central
• Start Lists/Results
• Live Stream (YouTube channel)

A trio of Russian Junior Records fell during Day 3 finals at the country’s Olympic Trials meet in Kazan, headlined by 16-year-old Evgeniia Chikunova.

Chikunova won the women’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:06.06, breaking the 11-year-old national junior mark of 1:06.08 set by Yuliya Efimova at the 2008 Olympic Games – a clocking that was a new European Record at the time.

Making Chikunova’s swim even more significant, along with the fact that it qualified her for her first Olympic team, is that she did it alongside Efimova, who took second in 1:06.22. The 29-year-old Efimova is the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the event, and owns the Russian Record of 1:04.36 set in 2017.

Chikunova also takes over the fourth spot in the 2020-21 world rankings.

Russian Junior Records are eligible to be broken by females aged 16 and under, and males aged 18 and under.

The second Russian Junior Record of the night fell in the women’s 200 IM, as 16-year-old Anastasia Sorokina easily paced the semi-finals in 2:12.90. That time took out the previous mark of 2:14.15, set by Anna Chernysheva in October, and her old best of 2:14.38 from the 2018 European Juniors.

That previous best time from Sorokina, set just a month after her 14th birthday, had broken a 34-year-old Russian Junior Record in the event.

The third record of the night went down in the women’s 50 fly final, as another 16-year-old, Daria Klepikova, cracked the 26-second barrier in 25.98 to place second overall. Klepikova broke her own record of 26.20 set in December.