While the finals on night one of the Russian Championships featured only one Olympic qualifying mark it was a semifinal race that featured the top time of the session. In the semis of the men’s 100 fly it was Nikita Konovalov who moved up to fourth in the world with a 51.99. He becomes just the fourth swimmer to clear 52 seconds this year as he now sits behind Australia’s Christopher Wright (51.67), Japan’s Takuro Fujii (51.91) and American Tyler McGill (51.95). Just a year ago at the world championships Konovalov failed to move past the qualifying heats as he touched in 53.49 to finish 30th. The second seed in the event for tomorrow night is Nikolay Skvortsov in 52.76. In third is Rybin Novel in 53.37 while Evgeny Korotyshkin, who finished 6th at last year’s world championships, sits fourth at 53.45.
Jan Martynova was the first Russian name added to the Olympic roster as the 24-year old touched in 4:38.69 in the women’s 400 IM to secure her trip to London. That time cleared the FINA mark of 4:41.75 needed. She will be the lone representative as second place finisher Daria Belyakin (4:45.24) failed to reach the standard.
In the men’s 400 free Igor Degtyarev nearly added his name to the Olympic team but came up just two hundredths short of the mark as he touched in 3:48.94. Taking second in the race was Evgeny Kulikov in 3:50.80.
It was Elena Sokolova who took the first event of the evening as she won the women’s 400 free. Sokolova touched in 4:12.29, well off the FINA standard of 4:09.35. Amanov Ranohon of Uzbekistan took second in 4:15.88.
In the non-Olympic 50 breaststroke it was Novel Sludnykh who took the win in 27.80. That time was good enough for fifth in the world this year. Cyril Strelnikov was second in 28.01 to move into a tie for 15th in the world this year. Third place finisher Anton Lahtyyhov also moved into the world ranking with his 28.10 good enough for 21st on the year.
In other semi-final action it was USC’s Vladimir Morozov who led qualifiers in the men’s 100 backstroke with a top time of 54.89. That time is just of a bit short of the 54.40 needed for an automatic berth to the Olympics and he will have another shot tomorrow evening. Also looking to challenge for a top two finish and qualifying mark is Vitaly Melnikov (55.26), Arkady Vyatchanin (55.43), and Stanislav Donets (55.62).
The finalists of the women’s 100 free were led by Natalia Lovtsova in 55.15. She will need to pop a much swifter time during finals to earn the FINA A mark of 54.57. Seeded second is Russian record holder Veronika Popova in 55.57.
Sofia Gutnik will be the top qualifier in tomorrow night’s final of the women’s 200 fly with a time of 2:14.78. That is still well short of the 2:08.95 needed for a trip to London. After Russian record holder Jan Martynova decided to skip this race in favor of the 400 IM the Russians will likely be without an automatic qualifier in this event.