Maskalenko Re-breaks Own Latvian Record; 14-Year Old Baikova Gets One Too

Nikolajs Maskalenko broke the Latvian National Record in the 50 short course meters breaststroke on Sunday at the Latvian Sprint Championships in Riga with a 26.99.

That record, however, was very short-lived, as he came back in finals and swam a 26.72 to re-break his own record and jump to 9th in the 2014 World Rankings in the event.

The record coming into the meet was a 27.03, which also belonged to Maskalenko.

He would later break his own Meet Record in the 100 IM, swimming 54.81 – though that left him about a second away from the National Record.

A second National Record went down in the women’s 100 backstroke, where Arina Baikova, just 14-years old, swam a 1:03.30 for a new Latvian Record of her own. That broke the 1:03.36 done by Renata Tomilova in 2012 – Tomilova, a relative veteran at 20-years old, almost got her own record as well, with a 1:03.38 for 3rd.

They both came in behind Finnish swimmer Sigrid Sepp, who won in 1:02.00 for a new Meet Record.

Like Maskalenko, Baikova also won the 100 IM. Her victory came in 1:04.19.

Full day 1 finals results available here.