Samusenko Impresses Again On Final Day Of 2025 Vladimir Salnikov Cup

2025 VLADIMIR SALNIKOV CUP

• Friday, December 19th & Saturday, December 20th
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap
• Results

The second and final day of competition unfolded at the 2025 Vladimir Salnikov Cup with swimmers vying for meet titles and bragging rights to close out the 2025 calendar year of racing.

We reported how 17-year-old Mikhail Shcherbakov lowered his own newly minted European Junior Record en route to winning gold in the men’s 200m IM.

Tonight the teen touched in 1:52.21 to shave over half a second off his previous lifetime best and EJR of 1:52.75 from the Russian Short Course Championships just last month.

You can read more about Shcherbakov’s performance here.

On-fire Egor Kornev was also in the water this evening, putting up some serious speed in the men’s 50m freestyle.

The 21-year-old stopped the clock at a rapid time of 20.39 to beat the field by nearly a second.

Next to the wall was Roman Zhidkov, who secured silver in 21.31 followed by Daniil Kosenkov, who rounded out the podium in 21.40.

As for Kornev, his effort established a new meet record, erasing the 20.52 benchmark set by French Olympian Fred Busquet.

Kornev is now the #2 Russian swimmer in history, sitting only behind retired national record holder Vlad Morozov‘s time of 20.31 from 2017. His time would have easily won gold at this year’s European Short Course Championships, undercutting Croatia’s champion Jere Hribar‘s performance of 21.70.

Kornev now ranks #2 in the world, dropping his previous season-best down from 20.51 from just last month.

After registering a lifetime best last night en route to winning the men’s 100m backstroke, 24-year-old Pavel Samusenko delivered a head-turning result in the 50m back.

Samusenko got to the wall in 22.37 to hold off Miron Lifintsev, who settled for silver in 23.03 followed by Egor Iurchenkko, who hit 23.24 as the bronze medalist.

Entering this competition, Samusenko’s career-swiftest time rested at the 22.62 he nabbed last month.

Tonight’s effort hacked .25 off to render him the gold medalist and insert him into the all-time rankings in slot #3.

During the final day of the 2025 Vladimir Salnikov Cup in St. Petesburg, Pavel Samusenko won the men’s 50 backstroke in a monstrous 22.37. he was just 0.26 seconds off Kliment Kolesnikov’s world record from 2022. Now he is the 3rd fastest performer of all time in the event. pic.twitter.com/jRLTmj9XTW

— Swimming Stats (@SwimmingStats) December 20, 2025

Samusenko also did damage in the 200m backstroke, turning in a time of 1:49.01 to top the podium once again.

Artem Norkin posted 1:50.99 for runner-up honors and Georgii Smirnov bagged the bronze in 1:51.53.

Samusenko’s outing represented his first-ever foray under the 1:50 barrier in this event, overtaking the 1:50.95 logged last month. He is now the 5th-speediest Russian 200m backstroke performer in history.

21-year-old Evgenia Chikunova was too quick to catch in the women’s 200m breaststroke, with the LCM world record holder delivering a powerful performance of 2:17.47.

That beat the field by just under seven seconds, as Tatiana Gorbunova was next to the wall in 2:24.37 followed by Anastasia Shilenkova who hit 2:27.44.

Chikunova’s career-quickest swim remains at the 2:14.70 established three years ago.

25-year-old Ivan Girev became Russia’s 4th-best 200m free performer of all time tonight, courtesy of his 1:41.58 stunner.

Girev defeated the field handily, with the next-closest swimmer represented by Roman Akimov, who earned silver 1:43.17. Vladislav Reznichenko also landed on the podium in 1:43.44, good enough for bronze.

Girev’s swim here crushed his former PB of 1:42.56 notched at this same competition five years ago. He sits just outside the list of top 5 performers worldwide this season.

Additional Notes

• Daria Klepikova captured the women’s 100m freestyle victory in a time of 52.28, outside her lifetime best of 51.62 from finishing 5th at last year’s Short Course World Championships. Silver tonight went to Alina Gayfutdinova who logged 52.74 followed by Alexandra Kuznetsova, who rounded out the podium in 52.93.
• Nika Godun turned in a time of 30.28 to take the women’s 50m breaststroke. In the tight affair, Sofya Anufrieva scored silver in 30.45, just .05 ahead of Elena Bogomolova‘s time of 30.50 as the bronze medalist.
• 29-year-old veteran Kirill Prigoda found success in the men’s 100m breaststroke, registering a gold medal-worthy result of 56.26. Oleg Kostin was next to touch the time pad in 56.68 and Alexander Zhigalov posted 57.16 to also land on the podium.
• Andrei Minakov was just .04 outside his lifetime best when producing a time of 49.23 to take the men’s 100m butterfly. Roman Shevlyakov snagged silver in 49.94 as the only other sub-50 second performer. Alexander Shegolev bagged the bronze in 50.25.