By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2025 RUSSIAN SWIMMING CUP
- Wednesday, February 19th & Thursday, February 20th
- Kaliningrad, Russia
- LCM (50m)
- Results
The 2025 Russian Swimming Cup took place Wednesday and Thursday with several of the nation’s big guns in the water to kick off their 2025 year of racing.
Key Highlights
23-year-old Pavel Samusenko wrangled up a pair of victories including the men’s 50m free and 50m back.
The former saw Samusenko register a time of 22.54 to get the edge over Egor Kornev and Vasily Kukushkin who settled for the minor medals. Kornev touched in a time of 22.78 and Kukushkin hit 22.86.
In the 50m back, Samusenko logged 24.78 to top the podium by a full second. Danil Zakozhurnikov produced 25.78 for silver and Evgeny Rylov posted 25.81. Samusenko’s effort fell a half second off his lifetime best of 24.28 registered at the 2023 Russian Championships.
Samusenko’s result rendered him ranked 3rd in the world on the season.
2024-2025 LCM Men 50 Back
Ji-hwan
24.67
| 2 | Oliver Morgan | GBR | 24.77 | 02/16 |
| 3 | Yohann NDOYE-BROUARD | FRA | 24.96 | 02/01 |
| 4 | RIKU MATSUYAMA | JPN | 25.16 | 12/01 |
| 5 | REO MIURA | JPN | 25.40 | 12/01 |
Belarusian Olympian Anastasiya Shkurdai put her backstroke prowess on display, capturing the wins in both the 100m and 200m distances.
22-year-old Shkurdai touched the wall in 1:00.63 in the shorter distance to score the sole time of the field under the 1:01 barrier. The 200m back saw Shkurdai hit 2:08.76 to beat the pack by nearly 4 seconds en route to gold.
Shkurdai now ranks #1 in the world in the season.
2024-2025 LCM Women 200 Back
Eun-ji
2:08.81
| 2 | Holly McGill | GBR | 2:09.53 | 02/15 |
| 3 | MIO NARITA | JPN | 2:09.54 | 01/24 |
| 4 | Katie Shanahan | GBR | 2:09.78 | 02/15 |
| 5 | Honey Osrin | GBR | 2:10.20 | 02/15 |
Alina Gayfutdinova denied Shkurdai the backstroke sweep, however, as she grabbed gold in the 50m in a rapid time of 28.10.
That held a healthy advantage over Shkurdai who settled for silver over half a second back in 28.71 while Daria Ustinova rounded out the podium in 29.05.
Additional Notes
- Arina Surkova was too quick to catch in the women’s 50m free and 50m fly, registering victories in both. The 50m free saw the 26-year-old post 24.96 and 50m fly saw her hit 26.01.
- Daria Trofimova was the top women’s 100m freestyler, putting a time of 54.78 as the sole sub-55-second swimmer of the pack.
- Belarus’ Alina Zmushko scored the sole sub-1:09 time of the women’s 100m breaststroke field, logging 1:07.78.
- The men’s 50m breast saw Ivan Kozhakin get it done for gold in 26.83 to get to the wall a half second ahead of the field.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Pavel Samusenko Was A Multi-Event Winner At 2025 Russian Swimming Cup