Taking into account the two relay races, the total number of Russian medals was already 14, and none of their holders would probably agree with the statement that the “short” world championship in the Olympic year is not too important for those who participate in it.
The importance of the event was indirectly confirmed by the most recent victory of the day - the one won by the Americans in the 4 x 200 m relay.The best morning time (6: 54.83) remained with the Russian four consisting of Nikolai Snegirev, Ivan Girev, Daniil Shatalov and Mikhail Vekovishchev.
The American quartet entered the final under the seventh number and, it would seem, it was possible to prepare to regain the title lost at the previous "short" championship in Hangzhou, China.
The evening Russian squad was significantly strengthened at the expense of Alexander Shchegolev and Vladislav Grinev, but the revenge did not work: the Americans held the relay an order of magnitude more powerful (6: 47.00).
“The 4 x 200 relay is such a distance where you could never be sure that you would win, even if the morning was the best time. Everyone knows that the Americans can replace three out of four people, respectively, in the evening this is a completely different team. Therefore, everyone was determined to fight, and no one expected an easy medal. It just turned out to be too hard, we were swimming with the last bit of strength, ”Giryov commented on the final swim.
According to Alexander Shchegolev, who won sprint relay gold on the first day of the championship and silver in the 200 m freestyle in Abu Dhabi, the second result in the 4 x 200 relay is such a silver that should be rejoicing, since it was too hard for all four , who performed in the evening final. The swimmer was not too happy with the result of his performances, but this applied to the first of the relay races - 4 x 50 m freestyle, where Shchegolev started twice, in the morning and evening swims.
“I'm not too happy, because I swam worse in the evening than in the morning.
Perhaps he did not warm up well, perhaps he was not too well prepared to sail the fifty kopeck piece.
I hate to think that the guys lost because of me.
And the result at 200 m pleased me.
Decent silver.
Although, of course, I wanted gold medals.
So that we have the third victory of the day.
But the Americans turned out to be stronger, ”the swimmer explained.
Vekovishchev, the only Russian relay who swam in the "gold" part of the 4 x 200 relay in 2016, also admitted that he had to swim with all his strength, and already in the morning fatigue had accumulated.
The athlete, however, dropped almost a second from his preliminary result in the final.
But he said that he was not too deluded about the team's best morning time.
“We already had this at the previous world championship in 2018.
They were selected first, and the Brazilians won the final with a world record.
Naturally, I wanted to believe that we would be able to fight for victory, but we must give the Americans credit: they jumped over their heads in this relay.
The last stage they had was Ryan Held, who had previously started in the relay with a fifty-kopeck piece, and we, frankly, did not think that he would be able to quickly swim 200 meters.
And it turned out that the United States won almost two seconds from us.
It's a shame.
They are second at the Olympics, here are second again, it's time to break this tendency, ”Vekovishchev added.
Coach Natalya Kozlova, to whom Maria Kameneva passed from Mikhail Gorelik after the Games in Tokyo, also spoke about the importance of the championship.
“The World Championship is always serious. Plus - the very end of the year, I wanted to end it well. In addition, Masha has never had a personal medal, although she is participating in the “short” world championships for the third time. Could she have improved her result? Yes, the Russian record held by Kameneva is higher. And in ISL she finished with a score of 57 seconds several times. Breaststroke failed today. But bronze is a success in any case, ”added the coach.
The only one who succeeded in absolutely everything on Sunday was Kliment Kolesnikov.
The World Championships brought him a total of three gold medals and an individual 100-meter silver back.
After finishing the second of his Sunday distances, the athlete admitted that he did not want to give up any of the starts, despite the accumulated fatigue, and, possibly, will still perform in Abu Dhabi in combined relay races.
By the way, Kolesnikov's record for the number of awards won in one championship (seven) was set three years ago at the "short" world championship in Hangzhou.