First day of the II stage “Solidarity Games” awarded 7 sets of medals in swimming.
In the men’s 400m freestyle, Daniil Shatalov (3:40.36) showed the best time, Aleksandr Kharlanov swam the fastest in the 200m butterfly (1:50.44), and Ilya Borodin came first at the same distance in the medley (1:53.42).
“These are my best seconds. I have never swum faster. Last time I bettered my time was in 2017 at the victorious European Championships. More than happy. Thanks to the coach who was training me and was next to me. Kazan has the most pleasant pool at the national arena, I always like performing here,” Aleksandr Kharlanov shared his emotions after the victory.
“The break lasted two months, so we’ve been missing important starts like these. I had a great swim and wish the guys had kept up the pace, this way we could have had a good contest. It would have been more exciting. I was set to win, but what else should I be up to? As for the time, I wish I had a little better time,” Daniil Shatalov said.
“The season started quite well, but I wanted to immediately deal with this record. Let’s see, analyze why I missed 18 hundredths to set the Russian record. We’ll figure out with the coach why it didn’t come off. It always swims well in Kazan. This is already a familiar pool, almost a home pool,” Ilya Borodin told.
Valeria Salamatina won the 200m freestyle (1:55.55) and the Serbian swimmer Anja Crevar led the 400m (4:35.48). In the women’s and men’s 4×100 freestyle relay, the teams from St. Petersburg (Aleksandra Kurilkina, Daria S. Ustinova, Irina Shvaeva, Yana Shakirova, and Andrey Minakov, Egor Kornev, Aleksandr Shchegolev, Roman Shchevlyakov) showed the fastest time.
“I am very happy with my result in Kazan. The time could have been better, but for this time of the season everything is fine. In my race the competition was stiff, and when someone is pushing me, I start swimming faster. It always boosts the emotions,” Anja Crevar noted.
“I grabbed the victory in my own pool, good and top-quality. First place is always cool. It is hard to say how far I am from optimal conditions, but in general I really like the pool. And the “Solidarity” Games are very cool. I like everything – light, music, people, how many there are here. It’s just superb,” Valeria Salamatina confessed.
Swimming competitions within the II stage “Solidarity Games” will carry on on Monday, 21 November