World record holder Chikunova said she wanted to quit swimming for fencing

Swimming world record holder Evgenia Chikunova She said that at one point she wanted to quit her sport and take up fencing.

Chikunova updated the world record in the 200m breaststroke at the Russian Championships in April. The athlete covered the distance in the final round in 2 minutes 17.55 seconds, surpassing the feat of South African representative Tatyana Schoonmaker (2.18.95), which she set in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics .

“At one point I told my father that I couldn’t do it and that I wanted to get into fencing. In the arena where I trained, there was such a section. He said that the children there already know how to do something, but I can’t, so it’s worth trying and continuing to swim,” the correspondent reports, reporting Chikunova’s words .

Today, the 19-year-old athlete takes part in the Russian Short Course Swimming Championship.

The tournament takes place from November 20 to 25 in St. Petersburg. Watch live broadcasts of the final series on the channel, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.