Russian Championships: Andrei Minakov Lowers His 100 Fly National Record
Andrei Minakov lowered his Russian record in the men’s 100 butterfly on Tuesday, the third day of the Russian National Championships.
The highlight of Wednesday’s action in Kazan, Day 4 of the six-day meet, brought a second improvement in as many days for Maria Osterova in the women’s 50 fly junior record.
Minakov altered his national mark, set in 2019 when he was a junior swimmer, by the slightest of margins, to 50.82, a reduction of .01. He had been 51.13 in semifinals of a fast event with four swimmers under 51.7 and three inside the automatic qualification time for the 2025 World Championships. Mikhail Antipov finished second in 51.25, holding off a charge from Roman Shevlyakov by .03 seconds.
Osterova won the 50 fly Wednesday in 25.79 seconds. That’s quicker than the 25.81 that the 18-year-old used in semifinals, which took down the record of 25.98 that Daria Klepikova set in 2021. Osterova needed most of that speed, with Arina Surkova also getting under the A cut for Worlds in second place in 25.79.
Klepikova was busy winning the 100 free on Tuesday. She went 53.53 to get the win and get under the Worlds A cut. She also got close to her Russian record of 53.36, set last summer. Darya Trofimova finished second in 54.17, .11 over Alexandra Kuznetsova.
Kliment Kolesnikov doubled up on backstroke wins by claiming the 50 back in 23.90 on Wednesday, one of four swimmers under the Worlds cut. Pavel Samusenko joins him there in 24.01, with Miron Liftinsev third in 24.51, only .04 ahead of Georgy Yakolev.
In Tuesday’s semifinals, Samusenko had led the way with a time of 24.25, with Kolesnikov second in 24.33 and Lifintsev third in 24.40. Just like in the 100 back, Evgeny Rylov was eliminated in semifinals, finishing 13th in 25.50.
Also on Tuesday, the women’s 200 back went to Darya Zarubenkova. Her time of 2:10.44 was .02 seconds ahead of Milana Stepanova, Zarubenkova coming home in 33.01 to chase Stepanova down, .66 seconds quicker on the final 50. Alexander Stepanov won the men’s 800 free with a time of 7:49.36 that gets under the Worlds cup, his winning margin more than 3.5 seconds over Andrey Filipets.
Much like Kolesnikov, Evgeniia Chikunova claimed the breaststroke double on the women’s side. She won the 100 breast in 1:06.13. Both she and runner-up Yulia Efimova were under the Worlds cut, Efimova finishing second for a second time in 1:06.88.
Egor Kornev won a tight 50 free over Kolesnikov. Kornev went 21.43 seconds, a Worlds A cut. Kolesnikov was second in 21.88, also under the Worlds auto qualifying time, while Samusenko was third in 21.96.
Kirill Prigoda added a second win in the 200 breast, going 2:08.55. Alexander Zhigalov was second in 2:09.21. Both are under the A standard for Worlds. Anastasia Sorokina won the women’s 200 individual medley in 2:13.14, .03 seconds up on Irina Zvyagintseva. Sofia Dyakova won the women’s 400 freestyle in 4:06.50, a Worlds A cut. She was three seconds ahead of the field, but more than a second behind her junior record from last summer.