Find out the full schedules and the entry lists

The fourth and the final leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup 2021 is set to get underway in Kazan, Russia. The three-day of a highly expected sport event will be held at the Aquatics Palace on the bank of the Kazanka river. It is the third time the Swimming World Cup is travelling to the Tatarstan capital, after the previous editions in pre-pandemic era of 2018 and 2019.

Previously, the city of Kazan welcomed the World Summer Universiade in 2013, followed by FINA World and FINA World Championships in 2015.

This is however for the first time Kazan got the chance to celebrate overall Swimming World Cup winners. All eyes will definitely be on the ultimate leg, after a breath-taking tours to Berlin, Budapest and Doha.

The usual 36 sets of medals are at stake, alongside the World Cup’s ranking points and prize money, which will definitely be kept somewhere at the back of the mind of all ambitious competitors. Looking at the list, there are a good number of strong names confirmed for Kazan, including merited Olympians and able teenagers, and three out of the most decorated swimmers of the FINA World Cup.

Star backstrokers in action

Heading the women backstrokers list of Kazan is Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands. She harvested a lot during the current season, standing on 8 gold medals. Her steady pace was always the fastest. 

Posting the world cup record for the 50m back in Berlin, 25.81, she went on setting fashion in Budapest on the longer races, and registered 55.72 and 2:02.09 respectively. Although we will not have the pleasure of seeing Canadian Margaret Macneil and Kylie Masse in Kazan, who used to collect medals on all distances during the two initial legs, the battle is going to be pretty tough. Michelle Coleman of Sweden, Holly Barratt and Madison Wilson of Australia, and Russian Daria Vaskina (especially in backstroke sprint) will all be competitive in terms of the clash on podium.

For the men’s chart, we will hope to see Russian Kliment Kolesnikov in action, who secured Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver in 100m Backstroke and was a head above the rest here at the Kazan’s meet in 2019. American ace Tom Shields is the only one of the party to have pocketed a backstroke gold of the Swimming World Cup-2021. In Budapest, he cruised to 100m backstroke victory on 50.50, though could not hit the season’s best, posted in Berlin by a German star Christian Diener, 50.32. Szebasztian Szabo of Hungary stands as a strong contender in sprint, and Israeli Yakov Toumarkin – in the longer courses.

A freestyle challenge

In the shorter courses, there is Australia’s most decorated Olympian Emma McKeon, who did not feel shy to grab 5/6 gold medals already in the 2021 Swimming World Cup, and equal the World Cup record in 100m in Budapest, 50.58. Another highly competitive contender is Michelle Coleman of Sweden, resting on 3 silver and 3 bronze jewels of the circuit.

Men’s free events are very much awaited as almost all strongmen are present in Kazan. We will see power Australian Olympic champion (gold in 2021 and silver in 2016) Kyle Chalmers, very successful in the Swimming World Cup this year. 2 golds in 50m and all 3 in 100m free speak highly in his favor, not to forget of the 2 minor merits in 200m free and 100m free national record of 45.03 posted last week. 

Keep an eye on his Tokyo challenger Kliment Kolesnikov of Russia in 100m. Lithuanian Danas Rapsys, Russian Vladimir Morozov and Jesse Puts of the Netherlands will be competitive in the free stroke, too, and put some challenge to South African junior genius Matthew Sates in 200 and 400ies. The junior is definitely a star of the season, posting 1:40.65 and 3:37.92 respectively.

In the absence of the German’s most successful long distance swimmer Florian Wellbrock, 1500 free Olympic bronze medalist and 15 km open water champion, we shall keep an eye on the reigning Russian vice-champion Kirill Martynychev, 14:37.11, and Akos Kalmar of Hungary, 14:47.16, both came out with silver medals in Swimming World Cup 2021.

Top class IM is back in Kazan

Many of the key players will be on stage in the women’s individual medley. For example, Maria Ugolkova of Switzerland shall be well fit to stretch her titles tally, already counting 5 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze in the IM events. Experienced Zsussana Jakabos, runner-up of the 400m IM world championships race, sitting on 157 World cup medals so far, Russian all-rounder Anastasia Sorokina, and Viktoria Gunes of Turkey will also be a part of the medals’ pursuit.

The very Gunes, Russian 3-time Olympic medalist Yulia Efimova, and likely Nika Godun can be viewed as contenders on the breaststroke titles in the absence of the able mid-distance specialists: Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel and US Lydia Jacoby, who set pace for the 50m and 100m breaststroke each.

Some more names to watch include Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands, who has managed to finish atop of all breaststroke races in Budapest and Berlin, except 2, where he won silvers. The mighty Dutch will be habitually opposed by Florian Schwingenschlogl of Germany and Peter Stevens of Slovenia. In 200m breast and 400m IM Daiya Seto of Japan, bronze medalist of 2016 Rio Olympic Games, shall be the main focus.

On fly part, 4 champions out of 8 – Holly Barratt, Emma McKeon, Maria Ugolkova and Zsuzsanna Jakabos are a part of the women’s program, especially tense in sprint event.

As for the men’s story, the US rocket Tom Shields will star in the show. He has been running the house in all events, where he took part (7/9) and set a high mark for the 50 fly, 21.99, and 100 fly, 48.67.

A new assembly in the mixed relays

It is very likely, that in the absence of the US junior wonder-quartets, the mixed relay events shall be a 4-way battle between Australia, Israel, Russia and club teams.

All in all, a swimming week-end in Kazan will see an impressive 37 nations registered to participate, including such powerhouses like Australia and the Netherlands, sitting well ahead of others at the top of the chart on 17 golds, and the USA and South Africa, counting 41 and 27 Swimming World Cup medals respectively.