Grinev Tops Vekovishchev & Minakov In 100 Free On Day 1 Of Salnikov Cup

2019 SALNIKOV CUP (RUSSIA)

• Friday, December 20th – Saturday, December 21st
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• 25m (SCM) Pool
• Meet Site
• Entry Lists
• SwimSwam Preview
• Live Results

The 2019 Salnikov Cup in St. Petersburg, Russia kicked off tonight, with several key Russian athletes competing fresh off of the European Short Course Championships. There in Glasgow, the nation of Russia crushed a total medal count of 22, including 13 gold medals, to produce the 2nd largest gold medal output since Germany in 1996.

A pair of bronze medalists from Glasgow were in action tonight in St. Petersburg, as Vladislav Grinev and Daniil Pasynkov topped the podium in finals action.

Grinev led the men’s 100m freestyle event, with his outing of 46.69 topping that of runner-up Mikhail Vekovishchev and Andrei Minakov. Vekovishchev, who earned 200m free bronze in Glasgow, hit the wall tonight in a time of 46.80, while Minakov produced a mark of 47.22 to get on the podium.

Grinev took 3rd in Glasgow in a time of 46.35, so tonight’s 46.69 result was within striking distance of that medal-worthy performance.

Minakov’s time, comprised of splits of 22.89/24.33, represents a huge new personal best for the Stanford-bound teen who had never before been under the 49-second threshold in the short course meters format.

Of note for Minakov, the teen was once a member of the International Swimming League (ISL) Team Energy Standard, who is one of four teams competing for the league title in Las Vegas this weekend. He opted out of the league prior to competing in order to preserve his NCAA eligibility.

As for the aforementioned Pasynkov, the man did damage in the 200m IM event, logging a new personal best of 1:53.26 to get the gold. His previous career-quickest entering this meet sat at the 1:53.60 he put up in Glasgow.

Pasynkov’s time tonight checks-in as a new Russian national record, outperforming the 1:53.36 Kliment Kolesnikov put on the books 2 years ago.

Vekovishchev was back in action in the men’s 50m fly at the end of the session where he logged a winning time of 22.63. That earned co-gold with Daniil Markov, while Sergei Fesikov touched just .07 later in 22.70 for bronze behind the pair.

The women’s 100m breast saw 15-year-old dynamo Evgenia Chikunova establish a new Russian Age Record. The teen stopped the clock in a huge 1:05.16, a time that would have placed 4th at the Europan Short Course Championships. Splitting 31.36/33.80, Chikunova’s 1:05.16 sliced .30 off of her previous personal best.

Daria Chikunova settled for silver tonight, hitting the wall just .11 behind in 1:05.27, despite opening in a faster 1st 50m of 31.12.

The men’s 400m free saw Aleksandr Krasnykh crank out a winning mark of 3:39.61, beating the field tonight by well over 3 seconds. He owns a personal best of 3:35.30 from when he took silver in the event at the 2016 Short Course World Championships.

Finally, Mariia Kameneva carried her momentum from Glasgow into this meet, wreaking havoc on the women’s 50m free. She stopped the clock in 23.92 to represent the only swimmer of the field to delve into sub-24 second territory. Kamaneva took the 50m free gold at the European Short Course Championships in 23.56, one of her impressive six medals from the meet.

But the 20-year-old wasn’t done, wrapping up gold in the 50m back as well tonight. In fact, her 26.15 gold medal checks in as the Russian national record in the event.

Additional Winners:

• Veronika Andrusenko won the women’s 200m free in 1:55.03, touching the wall only .06 ahead of runner-up Daria S. Ustinova.
• The men’s 50m breast saw Andrei Nikolaev get it done in a time of 26.39, while Oleg Kostin and Kirill Strelnikov tied for silver in 26.54.
• Arina Surkova found success in the women’s 100m fly, clocking a winning effort of 57.30 over Svetlana Chimrova‘s time of 57.89.
• Mikhail Dorinov won the men’s 200m breast by over 3 seconds, topping the podium in 2:03.84.
• The women’s 800m free gold medalist tonight was Yuna Kurtseva who notched a swim of 8:31.77.
• Daria K. Ustinova won the women’s 200m back in 2:06.69. She finished in 4th place in Glasgow with a time of 2:04.34.
• The men’s 100m back gold medalist was Mark Nikolaev in 50.18, while Alexander Kudashev took the men’s 200m fly in 1:51.88.