Egor Kornev Rips 21.70 50 Free To Become #4 Russian Performer All-Time

2024 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CUP

• Tuesday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 28th
• Yekaterinburg, Russia
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Recap #1
• Entries/Results
• Livestream

The 2024 Russian Swimming Cup kicked off this week from Yekaterinburg with the nation’s athletes racing domestically instead of at the Olympic Games which kick off on July 27th.

The Russian Swimming Federation is offering bonuses to the tune of 2 million rubles (~$23,000 USD) if event winners here clock a better time than the Olympic champion in Paris.

We’ve seen some impressive performances on both the men’s and women’s sides as we now highlight the key swims from days 3 & 4.

Kliment Kolesnikov got it done for gold in the men’s 50m back, firing off a time of 23.90 as the sole sub-24-second performer of the field.

Pavel Samusenko snagged silver in 24.29 while Miron Lifincev, the 100m back winner earlier in the competition, rounded out the podium in 24.42.

24-year-old Kolesnikov owns a lifetime best of 23.55 in this event, the mark which remains as the current World Record from when he logged it at the 2023 Russian Cup.

Today Kolesnikov was also among the men’s 50m free field, producing an outing of 22.02 to earn silver behind winner Egor Kornev of St. Petersburg.

Kornev clocked the only time of the pack under the 22-second barrier, posting 21.70 for the gold as Daniil Markov bagged bronze in 22.14.

As for Kornev, his time tonight checks in as his fastest ever, knocking .20 off the 21.90 he turned in at the Russian Championships this past April. The 20-year-old’s new PB ranks him as Russia’s 4th-fastest 50m freestyler in history.

Top 5 Russian Men’s 50 Freestyle Performers All-Time

1. Vladimir Morozov – 21.27, 2019
2. Aleksandr Popov – 21.64, 2000
3. Kliment Kolesnikov – 21.69, 2022
4. Egor Kornev – 21.70, 2024
5. Evgeny Sedov -21.74, 2017

19-year-old Evgenia Chikunova was too quick to catch in the women’s 100m breast, getting to the wall well over a second ahead of the field.

Chikunova stopped the clock at 1:05.26, splitting 31.12/34.14 in the process.

Next in line was Tatyana Belonogoff who punched an effort of 1:06.94 before Yuliya Efimova touched in 1:07.28 for bronze.

Chikunova currently ranks #2 in the world this season as a result of the 1:05.11 she put up at April’s Russian Championships. She’s been as fast as 1:04.92 in her career.

A Russian national record nearly went down at the hands of Sofia Diakova, just 16 years of age.

Diakova produced a head-turning time of 4:05.16 to take the women’s 400m freestyle about 5 seconds ahead of the rest of her competitors.

Diakova’s outing shredded her previous personal best to bits, a mark which stood at the 4:08.37 from earlier this year.

The teen now ranks as the #2 Russian performer in history and is rapidly approaching Anna Egorova national record of 4:04.10 that’s been on the books since 2021.

Daria Klepikova hit an outing of 53.36 to handily defeat the pack in the women’s 100m free. This represented her first-ever foray under the 54-second barrier, canceling out her previous career-quickest result of 54.07 from last year’s edition of this competition.

Daria Trofimova earned silver in 54.17, well over half a second behind. Yana Shakirova reaped bronze in 54.74.

Roman Shevlyakov clocked a time of 51.31 to get the win over Andrei Minakov in the men’s 100m fly.

Shevlyakov split 23.64/27.67 to get the job done, while Minakov settled for silver in 51.50 (23.61/27.89). Samusenko grabbed another medal by taking bronze in 52.13.

Minakov took this 100m fly title this past April, registering 50.86 to rank 10th in the world this season.

Additional Notes

• Mikhail Dorinov denied Kirill Prigoda the gold in the men’s 200m breast. The former touched in 2:09.08 to the latter’s 2:09.65 with Alexey Sudarev right in the mix at 2:09.65 for bronze.
• The women’s 200m back saw Daria Ustinova come out on top in 2:12.50, just .09 ahead of Daria Zarubenkova who hit 2:12.59. Renata Gainullina posted 2:12.88 for 3rd place.
• Alexander Stepanov reaped gold in the men’s 800m free in an outing of 7:53.11.