Seliger Swim: results of the open water swimming race

Seliger Swim: results of the open water swimming race

On June 17, a large-scale open water swim took place in the Tver region – 400 athletes competed in long-distance swimming.

Participants of the swim were professionals and amateurs aged 18 to 60 years old, who could swim any of the four distances: 1 mile, 5 kilometers, 10 kilometers and the 5+5 km relay. However, on the day of the competition, the declared distances were shortened to 1250 meters, 4 kilometers, 8 kilometers and 4+4 km relay, and their schemes were changed due to low water temperature (12-15⁰C).

The swim covered two locations in Seliger: the Nilo-Stolobenskaya Desert and the village of Nikola-Rozhok. The swimmers had to demonstrate their orienteering skills in open water and keep a close eye on the path in unpredictable currents: a small deviation from the course could significantly lengthen the route. Cold water created additional difficulties, so all participants used wetsuits.

According to the results of the swim, the winners and prize-winners at the distance “1 mile” among women were the representatives from Moscow: Anastasia Baryshnikova, Anna Kolpakova and Galiya Latypova. Muscovites Askhat Abdrasov, Anton Popov and Vasily Dolgan were also the best among men at this distance.

At a distance of 5 kilometers “gold” won Sergey Stryuchkov (Rybinsk), second place went to Mikhail Sharov (St. Petersburg), the bronze medal went to Artem Shinkevich (St. Petersburg).

At the distance of 5 kilometers among women the best were: Inga Filippova (St. Petersburg), Roksolana Ishchuk (Moscow) and Ekaterina Zharnikova (Moscow).

Yuri Saramutin (Moscow), a three-time winner of X-WATERS swims, became the champion of the 10-kilometer race. “Silver” won Sergey Kikonkov (St. Petersburg), the third place was taken by Evgeny Zeleny (Solnechnogorsk).

In the relay “5+5 km” the best women’s team was Elena Negomedzyanova and Anna Scherenko (Moscow); the best mixed team – Svetlana Parygina and Ilya Yablonovsky (Moscow); the best men’s team – Roman Savrasov and Alexey Kazak (Konakovo-Moscow).

The first test pilot of the Russian medical exoskeleton “Exo Atlet”, Forbes editor, paratriathlete and motivational speaker Yaroslav Svyatoslavsky also took part in the mass swim on Lake Seliger.

Seliger Swim was the second stage of the X-WATERS series of mass swims designed to unite Russian and foreign swimming enthusiasts and popularize sports tourism in Russia. In 2017, international open water swimming competitions are also taking place on the Black Sea in Crimea, on the Volga River, on Lake Baikal and in the village of Teriberka on the shores of the Barents Sea. The next stage of the series – the STADA Volga Swim – will be held in Nizhny Novgorod on July 15 and will become the most massive open water event in Russia.