The All-Russia Swimming Federation has begun a 2nd camp for its elite athletes in isolation at Krugloye Lake. This camp is scheduled to last until July 13.
Some of the names of participants have changed from the national team’s first camp, but the biggest change is the presence of Russian National Team head coach Sergey Chepik. The 66-year old did not attend the first camp as a member of a higher-risk demographic for COVID-19 complications, but has felt comfortable joining the party in the second round.
More-and-more pools and training centers around Russia have begun to open, meaning that the camp is no longer the only option for training for most of Russia’s national team swimmers.
Highlight Swimmers from Group 2 of the Camp:
- Evgeny Rylov – 2017 & 2019 World Champ in the 200 back
- Daria Vaskina – 2019 World Champs bronze medalist in the 50 back
- Svetlana Chimrova – 2016 Olympian and 2018 European relay champion, Russian Record holder
- Maria Kameneva – 2019 European Short Course Champ in 50 free
- Veronika Andrusenko – (maiden name Veronika Popova), 2012 & 2016 Russian Olympian
- Viacheslav Andrusenko – 2016 Russian Olympian, former relay medalist at European Championships
- Aleksandr Krasnykh – 2016 Russian Olympian, 2017 World Championship bronze medalist in the 200 free
The major departure is World Record holder Anton Chupkov, who participated in the first round of the camp. His coach, Alexander Mentyrev, entered a taped off area of the camp while taking a walk, violating coronavirus prevention restrictions, and was removed from the camp. Chepik said at the time that he was given three warnings.
At the time, Chupkov said that if the pool reopened in Moscow, he would likely leave the camp to resume training under the direct training of his coach there.
The swimmers, who were the first to arrive at the training center, have been joined by a number of other Russian elite athletes. Among other groups now using the center including Russian national training groups in gymnastics, synchronized swimming, diving, fencing, and boxing.
