Kirpichnikova Cracks Over Decade-Old 800 Free Russian Record

2020 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, December 10th – Sunday, December 13th 
• Saint-Raphaël, France
• LCM (50m)
• Olympic Qualifying Meet
• French Olympic Qualifying Procedures
• SwimSwam Preview
• Start Lists
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Live Results

She may be a visiting swimmer at these 2020 French Elite Championships, but Russia’s Anastasia Kirpichnikova is making her presence known in a big way.

Racing in the women’s 800m freestyle tonight in Saint-Raphaël, 20-year-old Kirpichnikova logged the fastest time of her life, hitting the wall in a massive 8:22.65. She not only beat the field by well over 7 seconds, but she knocked over 5 seconds off of her own previous PB with her victory this evening.

Entering this meet, Kirphichnikova’s lifetime best rested at the 8:28.19 she posted just last month at another French meet in Toulouse. Tonight, however, she broke new ground by hitting the 8:22.65 to establish a new Russian national record. The old standard stood at the 8:23.07 Elena Sokolova put up way back at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Splits for Kirphichnikova’s swim here are as follows:

Kirpichnikova actually contested this 800m free event at the 2019 World Championships but mustered just a time of 8:37.90 to settle for 16th place and well out of the final. Here time here tonight over a year later would have placed 7th there in Gwangju.

The Russian is becoming quite the freestyle ace, having already nabbed the French Open Water Championships gold earlier this season. We reported how she is now hoping to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in both the pool and open water swimming.