On the final night of competition at the Russian Championships Anastasia Zueva continued her roll through the backstroke events. Earlier in the meet in both the 200 and 50 back events she posted the fastest times in the world this year and after a semifinal time of 59.21 in the 100 she looked poised to do it again. Not only did she jump to the top of the rankings, she became the first swimmer of the year to break 59 seconds with a final time of 58.97. That time comes up just shy of the textile best of 58.94 from Jing Zhao from 2010. Zueva now becomes one of the swimmers to watch this summer in both Olympic distances in what will surely be some fast swimming from the top ladies.
In the women’s 200 breaststroke it was another Anastasia who claimed victory in an upset win over world medalist Yulia Efimova. Anastasia Chaun touched the wall in 2:24.13, ahead of Efimova at 2:24.45. Both ladies easily cleared the FINA A standard to solidify their spots in London. They are now ranked seventh and eighth respectively on the year.
The star-studded men’s 100 freestyle put together a strong showing in what is likely to be a top contending relay this summer. Along with the Australians, French and Americans the 400 free relay is again shaping up to be battle in London. Taking this victory and an individual berth was Daniel Izotov in 48.27. That time puts him fifth in the world this year. Second went to Nikita Lobintsov in 48.39 which will also guarantee him a spot in the individual event this summer. Lobintsov was faster in prelims with a 48.21 to put him fourth this year. Andrey Grechin posted the sixth fastest time during the semifinals but couldn’t match that swim in the finals to finish third in 48.44. While that cleared the A standard it still wasn’t fast enough to earn an individual swim but he will be part of the relay effort. Vladimir Morozov touched in 48.79, also under the A standard. He went a bit faster in the semis to rank 14th. In fifth and sixth were Sergey Fesikov (48.99) and Evgeny Lagunov (49.02) who could also be called upon for relay duty.
Roman Sloudnov will be making his fourth trip to the Olympics after his win in the 100 breaststroke in an A standard of 1:00.60. The Sydney bronze medalist in the event now sits in a tie for 13th on the year.
In the 200 fly it was Nikolay Skvortsov who took home the win and Olympic spot in 1:56.48. That time just sneaks under the A standard of 1:56.86 to earn Skvortsov a spot on his second Olympic team. He finished seventh in the event in Athens eight years ago. His time now ranks him 17th on the year.
Russia was without any other FINA A standards on the final two nights of competition but winners in the remaining events all met the FINA B standard which means if the Russian Federation submits their times they could still earn provisional qualification to London.
Elena Sokolova took the women’s 200 free in 1:58.81 just ahead of record holder Veronika Popova who touched in 1:58.99. Irina Bespalova won the 100 fly in 59.00 which was just a tad slower than the 58.91 she posted in semis. Alexander Tikhonov touched first in the men’s 200 IM in 2:00.70 coming up just shy of the 2:00.17 needed. In the men’s 1500, Yevgeny Kulikov won in 15:16.19.