Vlad Morozov Swims 21.4 in 50 Free to Close Russian Championships

2018 Russian Swimming Championships

A busy final day at the 2018 Russian National Championships saw 10 event champions crowned, and 6 new automatic spots at the European Championships earned. Half of the 8 individual events were without the requisite standard for the European Championships, as a meet that started with record-setting swims on each of the first 4 days ended on a less-excitable note on days 5 and 6 with no further national standards being set.

One record did almost go down, in the women’s 400 free, when Veronica Andrusenko picked up a 5th event win (including relays) to go with 3 runner-up finishes at the meet: a better showing than any other athlete in the field. She won the 400 on Wednesday in 4:06.73, which was within half-a-second of Elena Sokolova’s National Record of 4:06.30. That Sokolova mark was set in July of 2008 and is the second-oldest long course Russian Record still on the books.

Vlad Morozov picked up his 4th win of the meet (which would later become 5 after the 400 medley relay), taking the men’s 50 free down in 21.47 – the only swimmer under the qualifying standard for the European Championships. That ranks him 3rd in the world this year in the event, behind only Ben Proud and Bruno Fratus.

Mirroring his near-best in the 100 free, that swim is the 4th-best of Morozov’s career and only .03 from his lifetime best (which was done at this meet lasts year).

2017-2018 LCM MEN 50 FREE

2Bruno
FRATUS
BRA21.3504/21
3Andrea
VERGANI
ITA21.3708/08
4Kristian
GKOLOMEEV
GRE21.4408/09
4Vladimir
MOROZOV
RUS21.4408/08
View Top 46»

Other Day 6 Finals Results

  • 18-year old Maxim Stupin won the men’s 400 IM in 4:16.90, holding off runner-up Alexander Osiipenko (4:17.08) on the freestyle leg. That was Stupin’s lifetime best in the race by over 3 seconds. Neither swimmer qualified for Glasgow.
  • Defending World Champion Evgeny Rylov won the men’s 200 back in 1:53.71, followed by Kliment Kolesnikov in 1:55.91. That’s the same finish order as the 100 back, and for Rylov completes a successful 2 gold, 1 silver return to competition after a shoulder injury.
  • Victoria Andreeva won the women’s 200 IM in 2:12.15. She swam a 2:09.5 in this race in 2016, but hasn’t been able to get below 2:11 in 2017 or 2018.
  • Sophia Spodarenko won the women’s 200 fly in 26.52, just out-touching Svetlana Chimrova (26.55). Neither swimmer was fast enough to qualify for the European Championships.
  • After finishing as runner-up in the 200 on Tuesday, Yulia Efimova finished her meet with a 30.30 win in the 50 breaststroke. Natalia Ivaneeva finished 2nd in 30.66. Vitalina Simonova, who won the 200, was just 7th in the 50 in 31.97.
  • Maria Kameneva won her 3rd individual event of the meet by taking the 100 free in 54.35. She was followed by the aforementioned Andrusenko, who took 2nd in 54.47. Neither swimmer was under the qualifying standard for the European Championships, but both are already qualified in other events, so the choice to race this 100 will come down to coaches’ decisions.
  • Moscow won the men’s 400 medley relay, by almost 3 seconds, including a 53.49 Kliment Kolesnikov leadoff, a 59.12 Anton Chupkov breaststroke, and a 47.62 Vlad Morozov anchor.
  • Moscow also won the women’s 400 medley relay, including a Svetlana Chimrova 57.44 butterfly split.

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DFS
6 years ago

Icary doodah! Icary day! oh my, my, what a wonderful day!

Brutus
6 years ago

Freakin Ruski

Sum Ting Wong
6 years ago

Has not made it past Google filters but on Russian social media – an interesting court case involving Skier Alex Legtov overnight in Switzerland .

Dude
6 years ago

Two swimmers already posting faster times than what took gold in Rio….and the year is still young!

Rafael
Reply to  Dude
6 years ago

Rio Final was actually slow, probably the slowest of all swimming finals.. compared to Worlds time after Rome and that is reality..

Caine
6 years ago

The guy has a spectacular body, very well built with a very good musculature. If a guy with that body that trains a lot is not among the best would be something incredible. If he had greater wingspan, he would be even better

Bear Drinks Beer
6 years ago

Rylov’s time is only 0.1 second off the European record and ranks first in the world this year. I think that deserves a mention in the main article instead of being put in ‘other results’.

Verram
6 years ago

WAs he also tainted by drugs allegations or is he a clean Russian ?

Alex
Reply to  Verram
6 years ago

He was mentioned in the McLaren Report and almost didn’t go to Rio.

samuel huntington
Reply to  Verram
6 years ago

been tested dozens of times, never tested positive

Pvdh
Reply to  samuel huntington
6 years ago

I wonder about those “disappeared samples”. I’m sure those were A-OK

samuel huntington
Reply to  Pvdh
6 years ago

my comment still applies. He’s been tested dozens of times at international meets, never tested positive.

E P
Reply to  samuel huntington
6 years ago

Lance also never tested positive. Never tested positive could just mean you haven’t been caught, just saying.

Emanuele
Reply to  Braden Keith
6 years ago

So we can say that for every athetes in every sport on earth…

What is WADA doing?
Reply to  samuel huntington
6 years ago

That argument is completely null and void. Did Armstrong ever test positive?? How many 100’s of times do you think he was tested.
Morozov was directly implicated in the McLaren report.
This isn’t an opinion. It is a fact.
Because of this direct implication his performances should always be questioned

E Gamble
Reply to  Verram
6 years ago

Doesn’t Vlad live, train and get tested in the USA? He’s in the USC elite group in LA. I’m pretty sure he is 100% clean.

Observer
Reply to  E Gamble
6 years ago

Have anyone ever heard about micro dosing, cycling, lance Armstrong, mclaren report????

Dont take anything I say seriously
Reply to  E Gamble
6 years ago

Someone here mentioned it might’ve been the green herb but who knows? We all know the folks at USC know how to get down.

Muddy Canary
6 years ago

Guess he is still fast, eh?
In all seriousness, an impressive meet.

pvdh
Reply to  Muddy Canary
6 years ago

theyre peaking for these meets

Togger
Reply to  pvdh
6 years ago

Nats? The only National meet I can think of where a truly world class swimmer (if not generational types like Phelps or Ledecky) needs to peak is the US trials. Proud admittedly probably was fully tapered, but he went the fastest.

And even if they are fully tapered, we’re still in April and two guys have already gone times which would have won the Olympics only 2 years ago. That is some serious improvement in a short period.

Emanuele
Reply to  Togger
6 years ago

No one peak for the nats this year (maybe the second tier athetes), european championship rules are pretty lax (4 athetes for event for nation) so top tier swimmer are pretty sure to make the team.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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