The golden point of the Russian national team and the victorious chord of Andrey Minakov

      Tatarstan athletes won medals of all kinds at the European Championship

      Sofia Dyakova is the fourth swimmer from Tatarstan to win medals at the Euro. Photo: Realnoe Vremya

      The final race of the European Championship in aquatic sports was the men's medley relay, in which backstroker Kliment Kolesnikov, breaststroker Ivan Kozhakin, Tatarstan's Andrey Minakov, who specializes in butterfly swimming, and freestyler Yegor Kornev won the gold medal, ahead of the teams from Italy and France. In addition, Minakov earned silver in the men's 4x100 meters freestyle relay, while Sofia Dyakova secured two bronze medals in the 4x200 meters freestyle relays (women's and mixed). Details can be found in the report by "Realnoe Vremya."

      Sofia Dyakova's first bronze

      If we follow the sequence of events, Sofia Dyakova first won a relay bronze, and then Andrey Minakov added silver to this award. Our girls lost to England and Hungary in the women's 4x200 meters relay, which had previously been quite competitive in Russian men's swimming. But let us rejoice in the bronze of the Russian girls (Ksenia Misharina, Sofia Dyakova, Daria Surushkina, Daria Klepikova — 7:49.13). There are mixed feelings here. Firstly, we were separated from the "silver" Hungarians by only 0.04 seconds, which, over the total distance of 800 meters swum by the quartet of girls, is a drop in the pool. On the other hand, the Germans would have dreamed of being in our place. They lost to us in the battle for bronze by 0.01 seconds. But that is the Germans' problem, and in our case, we can see how long it has been since Russian women last stood on the podium. They were closest to this at the 2019 World Championship when the quartet of girls — Guzhenkova, Salamatina, Andrusenko, and Yegorova — finished fifth, being the best from Europe and setting a national record of 7:48.25.

      Since then, in our swimming, the joy of winning medals has only been among the men, although in the team, Andrusenko was replaced by Anastasia Kirpichnikova, who, in turn, managed to join the French team. Salamatina is currently serving a two-year suspension for furosemide, Guzhenkova and Yegorova are in the lineup, but the relay quartet now consists of 25-year-old Daria Surushkina, 21-year-old Daria Klepikova, 17-year-old Sofia Dyakova, and Ksenia Misharina. We hope for their long careers, as previously we often faced disappointment when even the few Tatarstan swimmers ended their sports careers shortly after reaching junior age (Maksumov, Kuimov, Karasev).

      And Dyakova with her bronze became the second swimmer from Tatarstan in history to win a medal at an adult international event after Yana Martynova. And the fourth overall, if we also remember Alexander Krasnykh and Yegor Kuimov. This is a page in history. Even with a full understanding that at the world level our girls are not competitive with their times, just like the champion Englishwomen, who finished with a significant margin. Martynova also had silver at the 2007 World Championship in Australia when the World Championship was held at unusual times, and bronze at the 2008 European Championship when the strongest swimmers might skip the start before the Olympics. In addition, initially, Tatarstan athletes were only aiming for a medal from Andrey Minakov in the relay, and it turns out they won an award on the opening day of the championship.

      Yulia Efimova (in the foreground) and Evgenia Chikunova (second from the right). Realnoe Vremya / realnoevremya.ru

      Andrey Minakov's silver

      And, to repeat, the girls reminded us of the very 4x200 relay, which with the participation of Alexander Krasnykh consistently brought medals to Russia throughout the Olympic cycle: from Rio 2016 to Tokyo 2020. Now, however, the Russian men finished sixth, seeing the heels of the Englishmen with the aforementioned Guy, Richards, and Scott, and the French, whose Marchand started, missing the individual swimming, and the "bronze" Germans. To finish in the medal relay below Lithuania is, you know, not acceptable.

      And the real unacceptable moment was seen in the results of the relay half the length — 4x100 meters freestyle. In the morning session, the Russians reached the final with the best result, thanks to the efforts of Mikhail Shcherbakov, Roman Zhidkov, Vasily Kukushkin, and Andrey Minakov. Since Minakov participated in the individual final for 100 meters butterfly that evening, only Kukushkin remained in the relay team for the final. And he, along with Ivan Girev, Alexander Shchegolev, and Yegor Kornev, won a silver medal for himself and all who participated in the relay.

      The championship of the Hungarians was due to the magnificent performance of Nandor Nemeth in the third leg and Christoph Milak in the final hundred. The Hungarians outpaced the Russians in the men's 4x100 relay by 0.09 seconds, and by 0.04 seconds in the women's 4x200 relay. It's disappointing, frustrating, but deserved. It was also disappointing, as in 2017, when at the home World Championship in Budapest, the Hungarians unexpectedly won bronze, and the misfortune for us was that they surpassed the Russian quartet with Kazan's Nikita Korolev in the last leg. The Hungarians, who set a national record then, were already represented by the current veteran Nandor Nemeth.

      In general, we dedicated such a volume of attention to the Hungarians because this state has returned to the world TOP, which Russians cannot do. A top team is one where there is one or several leaders and a large number of strong swimmers who consistently compete for the podium. Russia, unfortunately, still relies on stars who can shine, like Rylov and Chupkov, Efimova and Chikunova, Kolesnikov and Lifintsev, and Yegor Kornev, who took on the burden of leadership at this European Championship, but there are very few who are ready to support right now and in the future. And for the Hungarians, there are representatives of the second echelon like Nemeth or Sebastian Szabo, and superstars like Christoph Milak and Hubert Kos, who formed the current championship relay. By the way, Milak also started that evening in the 100 butterfly, ultimately winning and outpacing Frenchman Maxime Grousse and Noah Ponte from Switzerland. Minakov finished eighth. It should be noted that this was one of the most representative finals, which also included Hungarian Hubert Kos and Polish Jakub Majerski.

      Dyakova's second bronze again went unnoticed by fans, as Sofia swam in the morning session of the mixed 4x200 meters freestyle relay. In the evening, two young men, Grigory Vekovishchev and Ivan Girev, as well as the incomparable relay fighter Daria Klepikova and Sofia Misharina finished third, after the teams from England and Germany. Thus, Dyakova "bronzed" for the second time in the championship.

      The third Tatarstan swimmer, Ralina Gilyazova, showed the 15th result in the qualification for the 100m breaststroke but did not advance to the semifinals, as she was outpaced by Yulia Efimova and Evgenia Chikunova. In the 50 meters breaststroke, Gilyazova was the best among the Russians, sharing 9th-10th place, which is remarkable. Gilyazova had to participate twice in a swim-off with Lithuanian Kotrina Teterkova to become the first alternate. They showed the same time in the semifinals, then finished the swim-off with the same time again, and only on the third attempt did Ralina swim faster. All to become the first alternate in case any of the finalists withdrew, and only then she would have the right to replace.

      Andrey Minakov. Realnoe Vremya / realnoevremya.ru

      The emergence of Afro-European swimmers in the favorites

      The first thing that stands out from the results of the Paris European Championship is the serious changes in the elite of European swimming. Among the new stars is Italian Sara Curtis, the daughter of an Italian and a Nigerian. She set a world record, and in the semifinal race, she also set a European record, which was disappointing for Russian Alina Gayfutdinova, who started in the same heat. Gayfutdinova also swam faster than the European record, but even for a while, she did not get to be a record holder, finishing behind Curtis.

      The Italian-Nigerian Curtis is one of the generation of Afro-European swimmers who have made a name for themselves. Swimming was initially considered a sport in which African athletes could not achieve high results, except for a few, like Dutchwoman Ranomi Kromowidjojo, American Simone Manuel, and Frenchman Mehdi Metella. Now, however, following Curtis, Frenchwoman