2016 RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS / OLYMPIC TRIALS
- April 16-23rd, 2016
- Moscow, Russia
- Prelims 09:00/Finals 18:00 Local Time
- Prelims 02:00/Finals 11:00 U.S. Eastern Time
- Live Stream
- Live results (IN ENGLISH – including event-by-event start lists)
Just two days after her 20th birthday Svetlana Chimrova became the first Russian woman to qualify for the Olympics, winning the 100 fly on day 2 of the Russian Olympic Trials. After no women and only one man qualified on day 1, Chimrova began the second finals session with a bang, breaking her own national record of 57.82 to claim victory in 57.79.
The time clears Russia’s Olympic selection standard (faster than the FINA ‘A’ cut but not as quick as other countries such as France and Great Britain) of 58.31.
Chimrova has held the national record since posting a time of 58.22 in 2013, but recently broke it at the Stockholm Open at the end of March, going 57.82.
Comparative Splits:
- 2013 Record: 27.24/30.98 = 58.22
- March Record: 26.58/31.24 = 57.82
- Trials Prelims: 26.93/30.98 = 57.91
- Trials Finals: 26.58/31.21 = 57.79
Chimrova’s progress stalled-out for two years after that National Record in 2013. She was never closer than half-a-second to that mark in all of 2015. But in 2016, she’s become much more aggressive in the front-half of her race, and while that’s sometimes cost her some speed coming back to the finish, it’s resulted in an overall jump-start to her time progressions again.
