2025 VLADIMIR SALNIKOV CUP
- Friday, December 19th & Saturday, December 20th
- St. Petersburg, Russia
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
- Results
24-year-old Russian Pavel Samusenko unleashed the third-fastest swim in history in the men’s 50 backstroke, leading off the National Team squad’s mixed 4×50 medley relay final on Saturday night at the Vladimir Salnikov Cup.
Samusenko put up a world-leading time of 22.26, dropping 11 hundredths off the 22.37 he clocked to win the individual event about an hour earlier.
Entering the competition, his career-best time was the 22.62 he produced at the Strongest Athletes Cup last month.
Samusenko now owns the #3 and #5 performances in the history of the event.
Men’s 50 Backstroke (SCM), All-Time Top 10 Performances:
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 22.11 – 2022
- Florent Manaudou (FRA), 22.22 – 2014
- Pavel Samusenko (RUS), 22.26 – 2025
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 22.31 – 2022
- Pavel Samusenko (RUS) & Ryan Murphy (USA), 22.37 – 2025
- N/A
- Miron Lifintsev (RUS), 22.39 – 2024
- Egor Kornev (RUS), 22.44 – 2025
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 22.47 – 2021
- Mark Nikolaev (RUS) & Isaac Cooper (AUS) – 2021 & 2022
Disclaimer: Samusenko’s 22.26 will not be recognized in World Aquatics’ official database since it came on the lead-off of a mixed relay; however, SwimSwam does note it in our rankings.
Of note, both his 22.26 and 22.37 would have easily cleared the 22.68 Estonian Ralf Tribuntsov put up to win the European Short Course title earlier in the month. The times are also quick enough to have won every edition of the Short Course Worlds, except for 2014 when France’s Florent Manaudou set a then-World Record of 22.22 that still stands as the #2 performance of all time.
Earlier in the meet, Samusenko posted personal bests to win both the 100 back (48.78) and 200 back (1:49.01), with his 100 back time ranking sixth all-time.
Samusenko has very limited international experience, primarily due to competition bans on his home nation following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He first broke onto the scene at the 2019 World Junior Championships, earning three silver medals in relay events.
At the 2021 Short Course Worlds, he won gold and bronze in medley relays and finished fourth in both the 50 back (22.93) and 100 back (49.65). He returned to the meet last December, taking fourth in the 100 back (49.20) sixth in the 50 back (22.74), in addition to winning three relay gold medals.
Most recently, he competed at this past summer’s World Championships, where he claimed silver in the 50 back (24.17).
World Aquatics has allowed Russian athletes to compete at its recent major championships as neutrals, but European Aquatics has maintained its restrictions on barring Russians and Belarusians from competing in senior events, up until recently.
In November, European Aquatics announced it would follow the new World Aquatics guidelines that allow Russians to compete in team events. However, Poland reportedly denied visas to Russian and Belarusian competitors for the European Short Course Championships. Despite that setback, Russian and Belarusian stars, including Samusenko, are anticipated to compete at this summer’s LC European Championships in Paris.
This event belongs to Russia at this point.
There are some performances missing from the list: Kliment Kolesnikov’s 22.43 from the 2025 Russian Nationals, Miron Lifintsev’s 22.39 and 22.47 from the 2024 World Championships, Mark Nikolaev’s 22.49 from the 2021 Vladimir Salnikov Cup, Issac Cooper’s 22.49 from the 2024 World Championships, Cooper’s 22.52 from the 2022 World Championships, and Egor Kornev’s 22.52 from the 2025 Russian Nationals. It’s impressive that five of the six fastest swimmers in history are Russian.
Murphy has a 22.37 from a mixed relay at 2022 SC Worlds.
Yes, I missed this one.
But it will be unofficial. It’s a mixed relay not a men’s relay. His time doesn’t count officially.