Zheltyakov Breaks Another Record at Euro Juniors While Training in War-Torn Ukraine

2023 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Oleksandr Zheltyakov broke the meet record in the 200-meter backstroke at the European Junior Championships on Friday, clocking a 1:55.79 to sneak under the previous mark of 1:55.83 established by Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov in 2018.

In the process, the 17-year-old Zheltyakov also lowered his own Ukrainian national record of 1:56.49 from Thursday’s semifinals by more than half a second. Previously, he held the Ukrainian record in the 200 back at 1:57.18, a mark he first set in April of 2022 before equaling it at the Stockholm Open this past April.

Zheltyakov is now ranked fifth in the world this season behind only Destin Lasco (1:55.63), Evgeny Rylov (1:55.50), Joshua Edwards-Smith (1:55.42), and Ryan Murphy (1:55.03). With Rylov barred from competing at the World Championships later this month in Fukuoka, Japan, Zheltyakov may have just vaulted himself into podium contention overnight. He wasn’t in the top 25 globally this season before this meet began.

Zheltyakov was a few tenths off record pace heading into the final turn, but he used a ferocious final 50 (29.55 split) to erase Kolesnikov’s Euro Juniors standard from the books. Zheltyakov is now just .65 seconds away from Kolesnikov’s world junior record of 1:55.14 from 2017.

Splits Comparison

BOYS 200 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 1:55.14, Kliment Kolesnikov (2017)
• European Junior Record: 1:55.14, Kliment Kolesnikov (2017)
• European Record: 1:53.23, Evgeny Rylov (2021)
• Championship Record: 1:55.83, Kliment Kolesnikov (2018)
• 2022 European Junior Champion: Ksawery Masiuk (Poland), 1:56.62

PODIUM:

• GOLD: Oleksandr Zheltyakov (Ukraine) – 1:55.79 (CR)
• SILVER: Merlin Ficher (France) – 1:57.15
• BRONZE: Apostolos Siskos (Greece) – 1:58.37

“It’s very special for me and for Ukraine, because it’s the first gold in this competition for Ukraine,” Zheltyakov said. “I’m so thankful for our soldiers and my family and coach who give me this chance to swim here.”

Making Zheltyakov’s record-breaking breaking performance even more impressive is the fact that he has been training in Ukraine “almost all the time” since Russia’s invasion last February. He visits other countries for training camps when those opportunities arise, but remains based in Kyiv and Dnipro working with his coach, Oleksandr Kulyk.

“I train in Ukraine because my coach is here,” Zheltyakov told SwimSwam. “My family and I did not look for opportunities to leave.”

His decision to stay home has complicated his training situation, with his sessions often interrupted by air raids and bomb threats.

“Because of the war, we often leave training because of the constant air raids and threats of bombing,” Zheltyakov said. “But our coaches are trying to choose the best places for training in Ukraine. It depends on the pool: in one pool we leave for each alarm, in the other we are allowed to swim as much as we want.”

Zheltyakov holds the Ukrainian record in both the 100 and 200 backstrokes, with the 100 record of 53.98 from the 2021 Euro Juniors. There, he took silver behind Ksawery Masiuk (53.91). He’s entered as the seed in Saturday’s 100 back prelims with that 53.98 national record.

“Watching what’s happening in my country is unbelievably sad; it’s against humanity,” he said in an LEN-produced video last April. “But I’m happy to see that our nation is getting together, getting stronger.”