Last week, the All-Russian Swimming Federation held its annual awards ceremony after the conclusion of the Salnikov Cup. The ceremony, held in St. Petersburg at the Leningrad Center, also recognized the 25th anniversary of the federation after it emerged in post-Soviet 1991.
The Sportsman of the Year award was shared between the country’s two male Olympic medalists. 19-year old Anton Chupkov took a bronze in the 200 breaststroke and then-19-year-old Evgeny Rylov took the same medal in the 200 backstroke. Both swimmers set National Records in their respective finals, and Rylov’s emerged as the European Record as well.
Yulia Efimova was named the Sportswoman of the Year, in spite of a tumultuous season that included a positive test for a banned substance for the second time in her career. During a temporary suspension, while FINA, WADA, the IOC, and any number of other governing bodies, tried to unravel the year-long Russian doping scandal, she missed her country’s Olympic Trials. Efimova eventually was cleared to compete, and came away with silver medals in both the 100 and 200 meter breaststrokes.
Kliment Kolesnikov was named the Discovery of the Year after breaking a grand total of 4 Junior World Records on the year.
The male Open Water Athlete of the Year is Kirill Abrosimov, the European Champion in the 5km. The female winner of the same honor is Olga Kozydub, who took a silver in the 25k at the European Championships.
Daniel Orlow was named the Open Water Discovery of the Year for boys after winning the 5km race at the Junior World Championships. Valery Ermakov, who won medals at both the European and World Junior Open Water Championships in the 10k, was honored as the girls’ Open Water Discovery of the Year.
Other Honorees
- Coach of the Year – Andrey Efimova (pool), Lydia Vlasevskaya (open water)
- Partner of the Year – Russian Federation Ministry of Sport
- Region of the Year – Khanty-Manisyk swimming and water polo federation
- “Co-Authors of Success” (unsung heros) – Russian National Team head coach Sergi Kolmogorov, Olympic head coach Sergei Zhilkin, masseus Alexey Shakirov, Boris Dubinin, Olympic team captain Anastasia Fesikova, and the editor of the Russian “Swimming” magazine Margarita Balakirev
- Journalist of the Year – Veronica Gibadievoy of “F-Sport”
That has to be Andrey Efimov, no “a” at the end, which indicates a female.
USC honored?
Snort