Kolesnikov Doubles With 23.68 50 Back, 21.76 50 Free On Day 4 of Russian Cup

2023 SWIMMING CUP OF RUSSIA

• Tuesday, July 25 – Sunday, July 30, 2023
• Kazan, Russia
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Live Results

Kliment Kolesnikov continued his dominance of the 2023 Russian Swimming Cup on Friday, following up on his world record-breaking performance in the 50 back semis by winning the final in the second-fastest time ever.

Kolesnikov rocketed to a new world record of 23.55 on Thursday, lowering the previous mark of 23.71 held by American Hunter Armstrong, and the 23-year-old Russian followed up by clocking 23.68 in the final, giving him the two fastest times in history and five sub-24 in his career.

Kolesnikov was followed by an elite field that featured six swimmers sub-25, with Pavel Samusenko (24.34) placing second and Miron Lifintsev (24.56) and Evgeny Rylov (24.66) third and fourth.

Later in the session, Kolesnikov was back in the water in the final of the men’s 50 free, putting up a time of 21.76 to claim the title and establish a new season-best time. Kolesnikov went 21.78 in the semis and owns a PB of 21.69 from 2022.

Egor Kornev was the runner-up in 22.01, knocking two-tenths off his previous best set in the semis.

In the men’s 200 breast, Kirill Prigoda continued his run of good form by breaking 2:08 for the fourth time in his career and second time this year, touching in 2:07.62 to win gold by nearly four seconds over Alexey Sudarev (2:11.41).

Prigoda set a PB of 2:07.25 last year and went 2:07.47 in April. His time from Friday is quicker than what was required to win bronze at the World Championships (2:07.74).

On the women’s side, superstar Evgeniia Chikunova cruised to victory in the 100 breast, clocking 1:05.46 to top Alina Zmushka (1:06.58), who narrowly missed her own Belarusian Record (1:06.44).

Chikunova set a lifetime best of 1:04.92 in April that currently ranks third in the world for 2022-23.

In the women’s 400 free, 2008-born Sofia Dyakova swam to victory in a time of 4:07.82, nearing her Russian Junior Record of 4:07.17 set in April. Veteran Anna Egorova (4:08.99) was the runner-up.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

• Arina Surkova picked up the win in the women’s 50 fly, nearing her Russian Record of 25.30 in 25.65.
• Yana Shakirova was the victor in the women’s 200 IM, clocking 2:13.90 to blow by her previous PB of 2:15.42.
• The Moscow men won the 800 free relay in 7:09.29, with Ivan Girev contributing a blistering 1:45.31 split on the third leg.
• Maria Kameneva came within three-tenths of her PB in the women’s 100 back semis, putting up 59.40 to qualify well ahead of the field.
• Oleg Kostin, who set a new National Record of 22.62 in April, paced the men’s 50 fly semis in 23.02 over Roman Shevlyakov (23.05) and Egor Yurchenko (23.06).