2021 LEN EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, November 2nd – Sunday, November 7th
- Aquatics Palace, Kazan Russia
- SCM (25m)
- Results
The 2021 European Swimming Championships, which took place from November 2 – 7, 2021, dispensed cash awards to the 15 highest-scoring men and women who raced at the meet. Each swimmer was ranked based on their single best performance in terms of FINA points and the top 15 men and women were given prize money.
The top 2 points scorers at the meet are unsurprising considering that they both exactly tied a world record at the meet which will be worth 1000 FINA points. Szebasztian Szabo accomplished the feat first when he posted a 21.75 during the 50 butterfly final to tie Nicholas Santos‘ 2018 world record in that event.
Following Szabo’s 1000-point yield, Ilya Shymanovich swam his way to a 21.75 50 breaststroke, which is the exact same time that Cameron van der Burgh used to become the fastest man in history back in 2009.
On the women’s side, we almost saw a world record fall when Anastasia Kirpichnikova threw down a 15:18.30 in the final of the women’s 1500 freestyle. That time for Kirpichnikova was a massive best time and Russian record but fell just short of Sarah Kohler’s world record from 15:18.01. While she didn’t get the perfect 1000 FINA points that come along with a world record-matching swim, she scored 999 with that swim to top the rankings.
Another big 1500 freestyle at the meet came from Germany’s Florian Wellbrock who won gold in the event with a 14:09.88. While it wasn’t as close as Kirpichnikova’s, his swim neared the world record of 14:08.06 which is held by Gregorio Paltrinieri. That swim for Wellbrock was worth 993 points, which made him #3 in the points rankings.
Sarah Sjostrom and Kira Toussaint assumed the 2nd and 3rd spots in the women’s race with their respective 50 butterfly and 50 backstroke performances. Sjostrom managed to deliver a 24.50 in the women’s 50 butterfly to take gold, while Toussaint was a 25.79 to win the 50 backstroke. Those swims were good enough for 985 and 978 FINA points, respectively.
Rounding out the top 5s were Nicolo’ Martinenghi and Emre Sakci thanks to their respective 50 breast semi-final swims of 25.37 and 25.38, and Evgenia Chikunova (200 breast), and Analia Pigree (50 backstroke).
Check out the full lists of the top 15 men and women from the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships:
Top 15 Men – As of Day 1
| RANK | NAME | COUNTRY | EVENT | TIME | FINA POINTS | MONEY EARNED (€) |
| =1 | Ilya Shymanovich | BLR | 50 breaststroke | 25.25 | 1000 | 25,000 |
| =1 | Szebasztian Szabo | HUN | 50 butterfly | 21.75 | 1000 | 25,000 |
| 3 | Florian Wellbrock | GER | 1500 freestyle | 14:09.88 | 993 | 15,000 |
| 4 | Nicolo’ Martinenghi | ITA | 50 breaststroke | 25.37 | 985 | 13,000 |
| 5 | Emre Sakci | TUR | 50 breaststroke | 25.38 | 984 | 12,000 |
| 6 | Gregorio Paltrinieri | ITA | 1500 freestyle | 14:13.07 | 982 | 11,000 |
| 7 | Arno Kamminga | NED | 100 breaststroke | 55.79 | 975 | 10,000 |
| 8 | Kliment Kolesnikov | RUS | 50 backstroke | 22.47 | 966 | 9,000 |
| 9 | Mikhail Dorinov | RUS | 200 breaststroke | 2:02.07 | 953 | 8,000 |
| 10 | Erik Persson | SWE | 200 breaststroke | 2:02.18 | 951 | 7,000 |
| 11 | Ilya Borodin | RUS | 400 IM | 3:58.83 | 950 | 6,000 |
| 12 | Matteo Rivolta | ITA | 50 butterfly | 22.14 | 948 | 5,000 |
| 13 | Fabio Scozolli | ITA | 100 breaststroke | 56.34 | 947 | 4,000 |
| 14 | Alberto Razzetti | ITA | 50 butterfly | 1:50.24 | 946 | 3,000 |
| 15 | Andreas Vazaios | GRE | 200 IM | 1:51.70 | 945 | 2,000 |
Top 15 Women – As of Day 1
| RANK | NAME | COUNTRY | EVENT | TIME | FINA POINTS | MONEY EARNED (€) |
| 1 | Anastasia Kirpichnikova | RUS | 1500 freestyle | 15:18.30 | 999 | 25,000 |
| 2 | Sarah Sjostrom | SWE | 50 butterfly | 24.50 | 985 | 20,000 |
| 3 | Kira Toussaint | NED | 50 backstroke | 25.79 | 978 | 15,000 |
| 4 | Evgenia Chikunova | RUS | 200 breaststroke | 2:16.88 | 950 | 13,000 |
| =5 | Analia Pigree | FRA | 50 backstroke | 26.05 | 949 | 12,000 |
| =5 | Simona Quadarella | ITA | 1500 freestyle | 15:34.16 | 949 | 12,000 |
| 7 | Maaike de Waard | NED | 100 backstroke | 55.86 | 948 | 10,000 |
| =8 | Martina Caramignoli | ITA | 1500 freestyle | 15:37.33 | 939 | 9,000 |
| =8 | Marritt Steenbergen | NED | 200 freestyle | 1:52.75 | 939 | 9,000 |
| 10 | Kasia Wasick | POL | 50 freestyle | 23.42 | 938 | 7,000 |
| 11 | Silvia Scalia | ITA | 50 backstroke | 26.18 | 934 | 6,000 |
| =12 | Maria Temnikova | RUS | 100 IM | 57.83 | 933 | 5,000 |
| =12 | Alicja Tchorz | POL | 100 IM | 57.82 | 933 | 5,000 |
| 14 | Isabel Gose | GER | 800 freestyle | 8:10.60 | 932 | 3,000 |
| 15 | Elena di Liddo | ITA | 50 backstroke | 26.25 | 927 | 2,000 |
In addition to the top 15 awards, the LEN also gave out bonus prizes for any world and European records broken at the meet. It’s unclear whether Szabo and Shymanovich were awarded the world record bonus for tying the record, but if they were, it would add €10,000 to their earnings, bringing them to €35,000 each.
Both of their swims, however, marked new European records, for which the LEN gave out €5,000. The only other individual European record at the meet came from Gregorio Paltrinieri who lowered the men’s 800 freestyle ER to a 7:27.94.
Ilya’s written time would tie Nicholas’s and Szebasztian’s WR 😉
If you think about it… 25k for a world record is ridiculous!!