2020 BELARUS OPEN
- Tuesday, July 14th – Saturday, July 18th
- Brest Regional Olympic Aquatic Center
- 50m (LCM)
- Entries
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
Day 2 of the 2020 Belarus Open saw another set of strong performances by 17-year-old European Short Course champion Anastasiya Shkurdai.
Yesterday in Brest the teen posted a huge lifetime best of 54.34 to top the women’s 100m freestyle podium. Today, the versatile racer tried the 50m back on for size, setting herself up for success from the get-go.
In the prelims, Shkurdai posted a strong effort of 28.43 to set a new national junior record and lead the pack for the next round. An improvement of .09 in the semifinal brought Shkurdai’s new lifetime best and national junior record down to 28.34 before she finished in a mark of 28.38 for gold when all was said and done in the final.
Entering this 5-day meet Shkurdai’s personal best in this 50m back event rested at the 28.45 she produced in April of 2019 to become the Belarusian junior national champion. Prior to that, Shkurdai finished 7th in the final at the 2018 European Junior Championships, posting a mark there of 28.85.
Also in the water this evening was freestyle ace Yauhen Tsurkin, who took the men’s 100m freestyle over teammate Artsiom Machekin. The men represented the only sub-50 second swimmers of the field, with Tsurkin topping the podium in 49.63 while Machekin hit 49.75 for silver. Tsurkin owns the Belarusian national record in this event with the 48.90 he produced in 2015.
A national record bit the dust in the men’s 200m fly, courtesy of Ivan Shamshuryn. The 18-year-old already owned the Belarusian standard with the 2:00.10 he clocked during the prelim at the 2019 World Junior Championships.
Tonight, splitting 57.20/1:02.85, Shamshuryn shaved .05 off of that previous outing, setting a new record at 2:00.05 to kick-off his 2020/21 racing season.
