Belarusian swimmers celebrate success at Riga Sprint 2015
The team of 10 athletes, including national squad leaders Alexandra Gerasimenya and Yevgeny Tsurkin, are bringing home 15 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze short-distance medals from Latvia. Ms. Gerasimenya won three gold medals: in the 50m and 100m freestyle distances and in the 50m butterfly. Meanwhile, Yevgeny Tsurkin was first to touch the finish line in the 50m and 100m butterfly, and in the 100m freestyle.
The coaches of the national squad are delighted with the performance of Oksana Demidova, whose 100m butterfly gold was the result of a time of 1 minute 01.22 seconds. Nikita Tsmygun was only four tenths of a second short of his own personal (and Belarusian) record in the 200m backstroke, while still claiming first place. The Mogilev athlete covered the distance in 1 minute 56.08 seconds.
Anton Latkin, Yulia Khitrova, Yevgeny Tsurkin and Alexandra Gerasimenya set a new record for Belarus in the 4x50m mixed relay, with a time of 1 minute 32.75 seconds.
Not easy to reach the finish line
Commenting on the results of the tournament, national squad head coach Dmitry Mantsevich notes, “All the athletes in Riga performed well, fighting for prizes and demonstrating their best results. I’d like to mention Nikita Tsmygun, who set two personal records. Why am I focusing on Nikita rather than upon Alexandra Gerasimenya? If the latter had surpassed her personal best, she would have set a world record. Our leaders, Gerasimenya and Tsurkin, did well in both their individual and relay events. We’re now preparing for the European Short Course Swimming Championship, scheduled for early December, in Israel.”
By Yegor Glebov
