Russian Swimmers Selected for European Championships; Will Compete as Individual Neutral Athletes
A 44-strong squad of Russian swimmers has been selected for the European Championships where they’ll compete under the status of Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN).
World Aquatics decreed in April that athletes from Russia and Belarus could compete without restriction and with their respective uniforms, flags and anthems.
European Aquatics confirmed to Swimming World earlier this month that the world governing body had agreed to their request that the full reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes be delayed until 1 September.
While they can compete at the European showcase from 10-16 August in Paris, they’re still subject to restrictions as Individual Neutral Athletes meaning no Russian anthem, flag or uniform.
Among the squad heading to the Olympic Aquatic Centre is double Olympic medallist Kliment Kolesnikov, who won double gold as a Neutral Athlete at the Singapore worlds last year.
Egor Kornev, who went 21.06 and 46.96 in the 50 and 100 free to shake up the all-time rankings as well as 22.59 in the 50 fly, is also selected.
Evgeniia Chikunova – second in the 200 breast rankings behind Great Britain’s Angharad Evans – also heads to the French capital as does Yulia Efimova, 10 years after double silver at the Rio Olympics amid catcalls on poolside following her late reinstatement despite four positive tests for meldonium and a 16-month ban for DHEA in 2013.
Miron Lifintsev will miss the meet with a shoulder injury.
Swimmers Selected For 2026 European Championships, Paris
- Roman Akimov
- Anna Arshavskaya
- Victoria Blinova
- Ilya Borodin
- Grigorii Vekovishchev
- Alina Gaifutdinova
- Ralina Giliazova
- Ivan Girev
- Anita Grishchenko
- Mikhail Dorinov
- Sofia Dyakova
- Yulia Efimova
- Alexander Zhigalov
- Roman Zhidkov
- Daria Klepikova
- Ivan Kozhakin
- Kliment Kolesnikov
- Nikolay Kolesnikov
- Egor Kornev
- Oleg Kostin
- Alexandra Kuznetsova
- Vasily Kukushkin
- Kira Manokhina
- Andrey Minakov
- Ksenia Misharina
- Maria Osetrova
- Arina Pantina
- Daniil Pisetsky
- Kirill Prigoda
- Pavel Samusenko
- Georgy Smirnov
- Ksenia Sorokina
- Milana Stepanova
- Maxim Stupin
- Arina Surkova
- Daria Surushkina
- Alexey Tkachev
- Andrei Cherepkov
- Evgeniia Chikunova
- Roman Shevlyakov
- Aleksandr Shchegolev
- Mikhail Shcherbakov
- Egor Yurchenko
- Georgy Yakovlev