Russian Men Break European Record In 400 Free Relay

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

While the American men broke the world record in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:03.03, the Russians weren’t far behind as they broke the European Record and swam the 2nd fastest relay in history.

Russia finished just .08 back of the U.S. in 3:03.11, breaking the European Record of 3:03.78 set by France at the 2014 Championships. The Russian team was made up of Vladislav GrinevSergey FesikovVlad Morozov and Kliment Kolesnikov.

Trailing by over a second at the 200m mark, Morozov (45.06) and Kolesnikov (45.46) had the two fastest splits in the field to almost run down the Americans. If they had left Evgeny Rylov (46.09 lead-off) and Ivan Girev (46.17) on the team from the prelims rather than bringing in Grinev and Fesikov, they may have beat the Americans. The prelim swims of Rylov and Girev added to the finals swims from Morozov and Kolesnikov bring them to an add-up of 3:02.78.

Below, check out a split comparison of the new and old European Records:

France, 2014 SC Worlds Russia, 2018 SC Worlds
Mignon – 47.05 Grinev – 46.38
Gilot – 46.13 Fesikov – 46.21
Manaudou – 44.80 Morozov – 45.06
Metella – 45.80 Kolesnikov – 45.46
3:03.78 3:03.11

In This Story

3
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

3 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Swimmer
5 years ago

Should have broken the WR with Rylov in it

DDias
5 years ago

Don’t forget SA record for Brazil in 4x100free!

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

Read More »