At the European Aquatics Championships, the second day of the swimming competition has just ended, and the main character of the tournament is already known.
Clement Kolesnikov again broke the 50m backstroke world record and took his second victory in Budapest.
The day before, it became clear that Kolesnikov intends to defend the European title in his crown discipline, and no one can stop him.
The day before, he was the first in history to swim out of 24 seconds, and the advantage over all rivals exceeded half a second.
The only question was whether Kolesnikov's 23.93 seconds would remain a world achievement, or whether it would be beaten in the final.
Kolesnikov did not restrain himself and had another phenomenal swim, breaking 50 meters in 23.80 seconds.
Now the Russian holds not just a world record, but three best times in the history of this discipline.
The gap from silver medalist Robert-Andrey Glinta was 0.62 seconds - such an advantage in major tournaments is rarely found even at a distance four times longer.
After the swim, Kolesnikov admitted that he himself was surprised at his own speed.
“Today there are many emotions. I tried, I'm really happy. Considering that there was a record yesterday, today I, one might say, did not expect it. We did not specially prepare for the European Championship, in fact, like most of the guys. We rather kept in shape after the Russian championship, because this start is more likely to pass for us. Today I have not yet had time to talk to the coach, but yesterday he said that I did everything super, "RIA Novosti quotes the swimmer.
And even more surprising in the fifth victory of Kolesnikov at the European Championships was that it took place less than an hour after his performance in the semifinals of the 100-meter freestyle.
The 20-year-old Russian record holder in this event swam in 47.85 seconds and showed the third time.
Only the reigning champion Alessandro Miressi, who broke the Italian record with a score of 47.53 seconds, and the Russian Andrei Minakov, who beat Kolesnikov by only three hundredths of a second, turned out to be faster than him.
The evening program of the second day began with the 800m crawl among girls final.
Women's long distances have always been a weak spot for the Russian team, but they have made impressive progress in recent years.
In 2018, the bronze of Anna Egorova seemed to be a breakthrough, and now Anastasia Kirpichnikova has also risen to the podium with her.
The favorite of the race from the very beginning was the Italian Simona Kvadarella.
Already at the end of the first 150 meters, she pulled ahead and did not miss the lead until the very finish.
The Russians began to play the two remaining medals among themselves.
At first, Yegorova had the best pace, but not even half of the swim had passed when Kirpichnikova, who had already performed in Budapest in open water swimming, took the lead.
The 20-year-old athlete became the first Russian woman to win silver in the European Championship at 800 meters.
At the same time, Kirpichnikova swam with a very good time and broke the country's record - she now owns a time of 8: 21.86.
This is the fourth best figure this season.
Egorova repeated her bronze success three years ago, fixing the time at 8: 26.56.
At the end of the day, both Russian women again climbed the podium. Together with Alexander Shchegolev and Alexander Krasnykh, they took third place in the mixed relay 4x200 meters. After the first two stages, the Russian national team still had hope for silver, but the famous Italian Federica Pellegrini managed to swim her part of the distance so well that the girls could only protect their bronze from the Israeli national team. The British won for the second time in a row.
Other Russian athletes on Tuesday were so unlucky, and they were only one step away from medals. In the women's 100m butterfly final, Arina Surkova swam the fastest in the first half, but she was not enough to finish. Then Svetlana Chimrova tried to accelerate, but, although she was third in the last 50 meters, she was nine hundredths of a second short of bronze. This medal went to Luisa Hansson of Sweden, and the gold was shared between the Greek Anna Ntuntunaki, who won the first women's gold for her country, and the Frenchwoman Marie Wattel.
Further disappointment befell the best Russian sprinter Maria Kameneva.
She also finished fourth with a time of 24.29 seconds.
To climb the podium, she had to swim 12 hundredths faster, and in that case she would immediately become a silver medalist - the second place was shared by the Polish Katarzyna Vasick and the Danish Pernille Blume.
The victory was won by one of the best swimmers in the world, Ranomi Kromovidjojo from the Netherlands, who managed to swim out of 24 seconds.
The rest of the Russian athletes on Tuesday fought for the opportunity to compete in the finals of the next day.
Anastasia Fesikova, for example, coped with this task.
In the 50 meter backstroke swim, she tied for third place, showing a time of 27.69 seconds.
Claiming victory with such a time will not be easy, as Britain's Caitlin Dawson managed to break the competition record by swimming half a second faster.
Breaststroke is not yet very happy for Russian fans.
On the eve of Anton Chupkov and Kirill Prigoda became only the first substitutes in the final of the 100-meter.
On Tuesday, Yevgenia Chikunova acquired the same unpleasant status.
The 16-year-old rising star was only seven hundredths of a second short of swimming to continue the fight for medals at 100 meters.
Only Yulia Efimova was able to pass the selection.
Three years ago she won all breaststroke distances, but this time she has managed to show only the fifth time so far.
Another athlete who successfully overcame the semifinal barrier was Alexander Kudashev.
He became the first Russian in seven years to break into the decisive 200-meter butterfly.
True, he lost more than two seconds to the leader of the competition, Hungarian Tamas Kenderesi.