Evgeny Rylov Wins 200 Back in Dominant Fashion at Russian Championships (Day 4)

2019 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• April 8th-12th, 2019
• Moscow, Russia
• LCM (50m) pool
• Meet Results
• Live Stream
• Selection Procedures

After a sleepy semi-final in the men’s 200 backstroke, the defending World and European Champion Evgeny Rylov exploded in finals with a 1:54.00 to take the title.

Much like in the 100 back earlier in the meet, Rylov and the teenager Kliment Kolesnikov slow-played their hands through the early rounds before overtaking Grigory Tarasevich in the final to land their spots in Gwnagju. Kolesnikov took 2nd in 1:56.07, which is actually slower than he went last year at this meet (when he wound up adding a bunch of time for Euros); and Tarasevich took 3rd in 1:57.54.

There were no Russian open records set on the 4th day of competition in Moscow, but there was a Junior Record broken in the most thrilling finish of the day. In the men’s 800 free timed final, Ilya Druzhinin, winner of the 1500 free earlier in the meet, was pushed stroke-for-stroke by 17-year old Alexander Egorov. At the finish, the two were separated by a mere .01 seconds, with Druzhinin finishing 1st in 7:52.03, and Egorov taking 2nd in 7:52.04. Egorov’s time is a new Russian Junior Record, breaking Yaroslav Potapov’s 2017 record of 7:55.95. Potapov finished 5th in the race in an 8:01.

Other Day 4 Winners:

• Maria Kameneva continued her dominant run at the meet by adding a win in the women’s 50 freestyle. She topped the table in 24.32, which just missed her own Russian Record of 24.21. That adds to earlier wins in the 100 free and 50 back; she was 3rd in the 100 back semi-finals, before skipping the final.
• Svetlana Chimrova missed a qualifying standard in the women’s 100 fly, swimming 57.98 to win. The standard set by Russia is 57.92 – which she cleared easily in the semi-finals with a 57.63, but missed in the final. Earlier in the meet, she also missed the standard (in all 3 rounds) in the 200 fly, citing health problems earlier in the year that hospitalized her for a week.
• Veronika Andrusenko, after winning the 400 free earlier in Russian Record fashion, dominated the women’s 200 free by a surprising margin. She swam a 1:57.00, with Anna Egorova taking 2nd in 1:58.30. Valeria Salamatina (1:58.53) and Victoria Belyakova (1:58.92) rounded out the top 4.
• Moscow topped the 400 mixed medley relay in 3:46.13, with Vladislav Grinev lighting-up another big anchor split in 47.47.

Semi-Finals Highlights:

• Kiril Prigoda and Anton Chupkov went 59.82 and 59.83, respectively, in the men’s 100 breast semi-final out of opposite heats.
• Anna Belousova is the top qualifier in the women’s 100 breaststroke after a 1:06.46 that crushed her old lifetime best by almost 2 seconds. Yulia Efimova qualified 2nd in 1:06.85, and 14-year old Evgenia Chikunova followed up her 2:22 win in the 200 breaststroke with a 1:08.32 to qualify 3rd in the 100.
• Martin Malutin crushed his best time in the 200 free, taking the top qualifying spot in 1:46.28 – more than a second ahead of his old best and jumping him into 7th place in the world this season.

Individual Time Standards + Top 2 Places Achieved Through 4 Days

Men:

Women: