Egor Kornev Blazes To 46.96 100 Free At Russian Championships; Yulia Efimova Claims Crown
Egor Kornev sped to his second sub-47sec 100 free in as many days in 46.96 on the final night of the Russian Championships in Kazan.
The 22-year-old became the first Russian to break 47secs when he went 46.99 in Wednesday’s semis to slice 0.12 from the national record of 47.11 that had stood to Kliment Kolesnikov since the semis at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when he went on to win bronze.
Kornev returned for the final where he split 22.37/24.59 to reset his Russian record. His semifinal swim elevated him to third European all-time where he remains behind David Popovici and his 46.51 continental record en-route to the 2025 world title in Singapore and Alain Bernard, who went 46.94 at the 2009 French Championships.
Kornev now sits joint seventh all-time alongside Caeleb Dressel who went 46.96 at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju.
It follows his efforts in the 50 free where he followed up a 21.12 semifinal performance with 21.06 in the final to go fifth all-time.
He returned for the 50 fly in which he set a Russian mark of 22.59 in the semis. However, it was Oleg Kostin who took the title in 22.79 to Kornev’s 22.94.
Yulia Efimova won the 100m breaststroke in 1:06.90, 10 years after double silver at Rio 2016 amid jeers from the crowd after being cleared to compete despite four positive tests for meldonium. That followed a 16-month ban for DHEA in 2013. Now 34, Efimova finished 0.09 ahead of Evgeniia Chikunova who followed up her 2:20.59 victory over 200m. Kolesnikov added the 100 back to his 50 crown in 52.52.