Singapore course: what is interesting about the Russian Swimming Championship

The main domestic tournament of Russian swimmers starts on April 13 in Kazan at the Aquatics Palace. The competition will last six days. After a very successful performance at the World Short Course Championships in Budapest, Russian swimmers are preparing for the main start of the summer — the World Aquatics Championships, which will be held from July 10 to August 3 in Singapore. Initially, this tournament was supposed to take place in Kazan, but it was postponed. The capital of Tatarstan will become an important qualifying stage for the formation of a team of "neutrals", and it is in this status that Russian swimmers can participate in international competitions, including at the 2025 World Cup in Singapore.

Who will speak

A total of 811 participants were admitted to the tournament. Of course, their number may decrease due to various circumstances. However, the selection for the national team is quite limited — currently 43 swimmers have access to the international arena. And all of them, with the exception of Stepan Goncharov, can be included in the World Cup team (the athlete trains in the USA and could not come to the Czech Republic).

The main characters are still the same as in Budapest: five-time world short course champion Miron Lifintsev, world 400m champion Ilya Borodin, three-time world champion and three-time World Cup 24 silver medalist in all breaststroke Kirill Prigoda plus Andrey Minakov and Egor Kornev, Lifintseva and Prigoda's teammates in the gold combined 4x100m relay races. Two-time Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov and world record holder Kliment Kolesnikov are also announced for the tournament.

In short water: Russian swimmers triumphantly returned to the international arena

Four golds for Miron Lifintsev and a world record in the relay race

Among the girls, first of all, of course, Evgenia Chikunova, as well as the participants of the victorious 4x50 m combined relay, Arina Surkova and Daria Trofimova, plus Daria Klepikova, the world champion in the 4x100 m combined relay. Three-time Olympic medalist Yulia Yefimova will also start, who, judging by her social networks, is actively preparing for the tournament. In December, she remained in Budapest without finals, but this clearly did not stop the most decorated of the current Russian swimmers, who turned 33 on April 3.

The hope of our sport

After the December triumph in the Hungarian capital, Russian swimmers are the main hope of our sport in international competitions, they returned in the most massive and confident manner. Other sports, such as skiing, biathlon, and athletics, either have no opportunity to compete at all, or, as in the case of speed skating, short track, or figure skating, are only awaiting a decision on applications for neutral status.

The swimmers have already proved everything to everyone, but now there is a completely different start ahead, with a different level of competition — all the strongest without exception will come to Singapore, this is not the short water that some stars missed after a busy Olympic season. It is in Singapore that it will be necessary to finally put an end to the return process, and if this does not work out, the successes in the short water in Budapest will not be perceived so joyfully. That is why the Russian Championship in Kazan will be the most important test of the Russian team's readiness, although, of course, given that the World Cup is three and a half months away, some athletes may find themselves in a completely different shape in the summer.

"Holding the Russian Swimming Championships as a qualifier for the World Championships is a landmark event for the entire Russian sport," Dmitry Mazepin, President of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia. — This is not only a test of the level of training of our athletes, but also an opportunity in a fair competition to determine those who will defend the honor of our country in the international arena. I am sure that the competitions in Kazan will be held at the highest level and will become a real celebration of swimming.

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Russian athletes performed well despite a three-year suspension from international starts

But even with all the reservations, the tournament in Kazan, which, by the way, is included in the calendar of the international federation, is a rare occasion when you can look at the leaders of world sports. Not the "leaders" who are talked about in subjective terms, where it is impossible to actually compare the level in absentia. Don't try to imagine, as in the case of skiing or biathlon, how ours would look there if. And to see the real, already proven elite in Budapest. Ours, the Russian one, which is already being watched by the whole world.