The second day of the swimming competitions of the II stage “Solidarity Games” saw eight more set of medals go to their winners.
In the men’s competitions, Kliment Kolesnikov won the 100 m backstroke (48.82), and Danil Semyaninov was the fastest in the 100 m breaststroke (56.25). Ivan Girev came in first in the 200 m freestyle swim (1:42.83).
“I was just a few hundredths short of breaking the Russian record. I failed at the last quarter. I made a turn and then my strength dropped. Still, I was not pursuing a goal to break the world’s record. 49 seconds is something I haven’t had for a long time. I wasn’t able to do it last year. It is good. I’ll keep training. Maybe, I’ll be able to break the record after all,” said Kliment Kolesnikov.
“My performance was next to the best. It inspires me with confidence. My aims at the Solidarity Games are like those of all athletes. It is to show progress and improve performance,” Ivan Girev said.
“It is the best result of mine, so I am satisfied. I will keep working on that. I managed to get ahead of the world record holder, but Ilya Shymanovich says that his season is just getting started. I had not expected that I would perform like that,” Danil Semyaninov told.
The Novosibirsk region team with Arina Surkova, Vitalina Simonova, Anita Grishchenko and Daria Trofimova showed the best performance at the 4×50 m individual medley distance. Maria Kameneva won gold medals in the 100 m backstroke and breaststroke, and Alina Zhmushka, Belarus, came in first in the 50 m breaststroke. Anastasia Markova took a gold medal in the 200 m butterfly stroke.
“The swim felt smooth. I had very little time to work last fall, so I’m quite pleased with the performance I’ve shown. Honestly, I had not expected that I’d show such great timing. My bar’s quite high as usual when it comes to performing the swim itself with less focus on timing,” Maria Kameneva noted.
“I didn’t win at the first stage, but I did get a medal. And I’m very glad I’ve got a gold medal now. My goal was to put my best foot forward. It is my third time competing this season and I seem to be picking up pace,” Alina Zhmushka shared her impressions of her win.
“My swimming was not that great. I’d rate my performance at 200 m butterfly 6 out of 10. I didn’t like it much. The last 10 meters went very bad. I hadn’t expected that. I almost drowned, but it’s good that I made it,” Anastasia Markova said with a smile.
A Moscow team (Ilya Shevchenko, Vladislav Grinev, Rosalia Nasretdinova, Elizaveta Susorova) took the first place in the final swim of the day – 4×50 m mixed freestyle relay.
The swimming competitions of the II stage of the Solidarity Games will resume on Tuesday.