2025 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- April 13-18, 2025
- Kazan, Russia
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Livestream
Day one of the 2025 Russian Swimming Championships got underway on Sunday in Kazan, featuring a strong start with several standout performances.
This meet serves as the sole selection opportunity for the Russian team for the World Championships in Singapore this July. Swimmers must place 1st or 2nd in the ‘A’ final and achieve a qualifying time to be considered for selection.
The team will then be formed based on the head coach’s recommendation, taking into account the athletes’ performances. The final decision will be made by the Presidium of the Russian Federation of Aquatic Sports.
Finals of the men’s 200 freestyle and women’s 400 IM were on the docket along with semifinals of the women’s 50 breast, men’s 100 breast, women’s 50 back and men’s 100 back. The men’s 4×100 free relay and women’s 4×200 free relay also appeared on the schedule.
In the men’s 200 free, Mikhail Dovgalyuk put his hand on the wall 1st in a time of 1:47.39, just narrowly out touching Ivan Girev and Roman Akimov, who tied for 2nd with an equal time of 1:47.45, with Nikolai Kolesnikov rounding out the top four in 1:47.56.
Dovgalyuk missed Russia’s World Championship qualifying time of 1:46.30 tonight, as well as his personal best of 1:45.56 from 2019.
The 29-year-old is an Olympic silver medalist thanks to his performance on Russia’s 4x200m free relay at the Tokyo 2020 Games. He anchored the relay with the fastest split of his squad, posting a time of 1:45.23. Dovgalyuk has also earned silver medals in the same relay at both the 2017 and 2019 World Championships.
24-year-old Girev was also part of the silver medal-winning relay in Tokyo, splitting 1:45.63 on the second leg. He was also the 2017 World Junior Champion in the 200m freestyle.
25-year-old Irina Zvyagintseva dominated the women’s 400m IM, winning by over five seconds with a time of 4:42.52, just narrowly missing the World Championship qualifying standard of 4:41.87. Her splits tonight included:
- Fly: 29.14/35.00
- Back: 36.78/36.67
- Breast: 40.28/40.52
- Free: 32.76/31.37
In semifinal action, three-time Olympic medalist Yuliya Efimova notched the only sub-31 performance in the women’s 50 breast, clocking in at 30.73. 2007-born Ralina Gilyazova secured the 2nd spot for tomorrow’s final with a time of 31.06, while 200 breast world record holder Evgeniia Chikunova sits in 3rd at 31.12. Efimova holds the Russian record with her 29.52 from the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona.
In the men’s 100 breast semifinals, only two swimmers broke the elusive minute barrier. Ivan Kozhakin leads the way into the final with his 59.79 performance, followed closely by Daniil Semyaninov at 59.87. Kirill Prigoda lurks in 3rd with a time of 1:00.17. The race is shaping up to be eerily similar to last year, where Kozhakin took the win in 59.10, with Prigoda (59.37) and Semyaninov (59.70) rounding out the podium.
Prigoda, a Russian National team mainstay, will start as favorite for Monday’s final. Prigoda’s best time stands at 58.92 and he clocked 58.98 at this meet in 2023. Kozhakin notched a bronze medal-winning time of 59.04 in 2023 which still stands as his career best.
Rising star Miron Lifintsev clocked 52.74 in the semifinals of the men’s 100 back, moving up to 4th in the world rankings for the season and advancing to the final in 1st. The 18-year-old won’t have it all his own way in Monday’s final though, as Pavel Samusenko (52.86) and Kliment Kolesnikov (52.91) also broke the 53-second barrier in the semifinals and sit just a couple of tenths behind.
Notably, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion Evgeny Rylov missed the final, hitting a time of 54.96 for 14th.
In the women’s 50 back semis, 18-year-old Alina Gaifutdinova claimed the top spot with a time of 27.90. She ranked 9th in the world for the 2023-2024 season with her time of 27.54 from July’s Russian Cup.
In relay action, St. Petersburg’s quartet of Egor Kornev (48.09), Alexey Pavlov (49.25), Vasiliy Kukushkin (48.33), Alexander Shchegolev (48.62) struck gold in men’s 4×100 free relay. Their final time was 3:14.29.
The fastest split in the field coems from Vladislav Grinev‘s 47.88 anchor leg from Moscow’s 2nd place relay. Grinev won the 100 free bronze medal the 2019 world champs in gwangju.
In the women’s 4xw200 free relay, Voronezh took the win in 8:02.62. Their foursome included Anastasia Saratova (2:00.89), Anastasia Markova (1:59.40), Alexandra Tsvetkovskaya (2:00.53), and Darya Klepikova (2:01.80).
Kseniya Misharina of Moscow had the fastest split in the field, courtesy of her 1:58.30 lead-off.
