Russian swimmers and sportsmen from ten countries competed for medals, including top stars such as Cseh László, Robert Harley, Katinka Hosszú, Verraszto Evelyn and Belarus’ Alexandra Gerasimenya. The swimmers had already performed in the pre-Olympic season and the Salnikov Cup summed up the first results for the autumn-winter period.
On the first day, Belarusians took four medals: Pavel Sankovich won the complex 200m; Alexandra Gerasimenya was placed second in the 50m freestyle and came first in the 50m backstroke; and Yevgeny Tsurkin, Artem Machekin, Svetlana Khokhlova and Alexandra Gerasimenya finished second in the 4x100m freestyle mixed relay.
On the second tournament day, our swimmers captured five medals. Our men won two 100m butterfly medals: gold went to Yevgeny Tsurkin and silver to Pavel Sankovich. The latter also won bronze in the 50m backstroke. Alexandra Gerasimenya won the 100m freestyle distance, while Pavel Sankovich, Ilya Shimanovich, Svetlana Khokhlova and Alexandra Gerasimenya took gold in the mixed 4x50m combined relay.
In the team rankings, Belarus was placed second, with nine medals.
By Vladimir Dmitriev
