Rising star and teenage swimming sensation Evengeniia Chikunova destroyed the world record in the women’s 200 meter breaststroke on the final night of action at the Russian Swimming Championships in Kazan on April 19, 2023. The competition saw her win a gold medal and put forth a personal best with a time of 2:17.55, which was 1.40 seconds faster than the world record in the event. She dropped nearly three full seconds off her previous personal best, which stood at 2:20.41 from Russia’s Solidarity Games in July 2022.
The former world record, set by South African Tatjana Schoenmaker at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, marked the only swim in history below the 2:19 barrier, and previously there had only been 16 swims under 2:20 before Chikunova impressively surpassed the 2:18 threshold by a fairly wide margin.
The 18-year-old St. Petersburg, Russia native is on a steadily upward trajectory with an already notable number of competitions and wins under her belt. Chikunova competed in the women's 100 meter breaststroke, 200 meter breaststroke, and 4 × 100 meter medley relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics. The year before that, she broke the junior world record for the short course 200 meter breaststroke with a time of 2:17.71 and broke her own record twice in 2021 with a time of 2:17.57 and then 2:16.88. She took the gold medal in the 100 meter breaststroke with a personal best time of 1:04.92, which was a world-leading time for the 2023 year.
However, despite what looks to be a promising and long-term career for the young swimmer, Chikunova acknowledges that she is still just a high school student who worries about exams and needs to focus on her education as much as her athleticism.
“I worked so hard and wanted to see the result. But education is also very important. I want to say to everyone: ‘Guys, please study!’ Education is very important. Life doesn’t end with swimming, so you have to go out with people. My career development is not a fact, so I have to study,” she said on MatchTV following her record setting time.