FINA Ratifies Russia’s World SC Record In 4×50 Mixed Medley Relay

FINA, the international governing body for aquatic sports, has ratified Russia’s 4x50m mixed medley world record from last December. The record was set by Kliment Kolesnikov, Vladimir Morozov, Maria Kameneva and Arina Surkova.

The team clocked a time of 1:36.22 on day two of the European Short Course Championships in Glasgow, taking down the previous mark of 1:36.40 set by the United States at the 2018 FINA World Championships in Hangzhou, China.

Multiple World Junior record holder Kliment Kolesnikov took his team out with a 22.67 split in the first 50m backstroke, which was at the time his best, though later in the meet he would swim 22.64 in the individual event.

An eye-watering 25.40 from Morozov on the breaststroke leg was the quickest in the field, which featured Ilya Shymanovich and Arno Kamminga who were closest in 25.44 and 25.54, respectively. That served as a reminder that Morozov, for all of his sprint freestyle accolades, is incredibly versatile.

The only sub-25 woman in the field was Surkova, who delivered a stellar 24.94 on the butterfly leg. The Netherlands, who came in second with 1:37.12, went for the female-male-male-female approach which gained back ground for them on the fly leg.

However, Kameneva held off Femke Heemskerk to bring her team home in 23.21, just 0.03 ahead of Heemskerk’s split of 23.24.

Unratified Records

Last September, we reported that Shoma Sato has set a new WJR in the 200m breaststroke at the 2019 Student Swimming Championships in Japan.

His time of 2:09.21 was just under the record mark of 2:09.39 set by China’s Qin Haiyang in 2018. However, the time has not yet been ratified by FINA and the mark of 2:09.39 is still officially recognized as the record. In truth, Qin’s best time while age-eligible in the 200 breaststroke was a 2:07.35 done in 2017, which FINA has also still not ratified, so at a minimum the right swimmer has the official FINA record, if not the right swim. The 200 breaststroke is becoming a bit notorious for not having ratified records; even if we eliminate Akihiro Yamaguchi’s 2:07.01 from 2012, which was the World Record and came before FINA started recognizing World Junior Records, at least 3 age-eligible swims have been under FINA’s official record in the event but have gone unrecognized.

Reasons for not ratifying World Records or World Junior Records are varied, but usually involve a failure to submit paperwork or a lack of doping control after the swim. Other age-eligible records since FINA started recognizing them that haven’t been ratified include Kristof Milak’s 1:52.71 in the 200 fly from the 2018 Hungarian Championships; Katie Ledecky’s 1:55.16 in the 200 free from the 2014 US Championships; Ruta Meilutyte’s 1:05.21 in the 100 breaststroke from the 2014 British Championships; Zhou Min’s 4:35.69 in the 400 IM from the 2014 Chinese Championships; swims by Rikako Ikee and Kayla Sanchez in the 50 short course meters free, a 2016 swim by Taylor Ruck in the women’s 200 short course meters free, and multiple swims in the 50 and 100 fly in short course meters by Rikako Ikee.