Vladimir Salnikov: “Participation in foreign competitions is possible, it all depends on the position of the inviting countries”

President of the All-Russian Swimming Federation Vladimir Salnikov in an interview with , he spoke about planning the calendar under sanctions and confirmed that the train with participation in the Olympics for Russian swimmers has already left.

— Vladimir Valerievich, what are the priorities of swimmers when leaving after the Russian Championships in this part of the season?

“They will have a pretty busy schedule and an interesting summer.” Part of the team will travel to Banja Luka, then there will be a stage of the Russian Cup in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, then the BRICS Games, the final of the Russian Cup, a match in Hungary and the Friendship Games.

— The federation has not yet organized major competitions in Yekaterinburg. This year there is the Cup final and the World Friendship Games. Is the pool ready for such a load? At last year’s festival, the swimmers simply froze.

“I don’t think there will be any problems there.” There, in Yekaterinburg, there is a permanent member of the presidium of the federation [Сергей] Kulikov. So there are no obvious problems, although it is clear that the pool is new, and it is always a matter of further adaptation. In principle, we have raised the level of organization of competitions and in Yekaterinburg the swimming pool is state-of-the-art, which also provides additional opportunities. Let’s see how everything goes.

— For the first time in a long time, open water swimmers will perform in Moscow at the stage of the Russian Cup. Is this an important moment for you?

— Open water means you literally have to wait at the seaside for the weather. In the case of the rowing canal, certain risk factors are less. It has already been confirmed that Krylatskoye water meets all sanitary standards, so we are waiting for this start. Last year we held the Russian Championship in Rostov-on-Don and were convinced that it is easier to organize such competitions with the existing infrastructure. This year the Russian Championship will take place there. Previously, we did it in Sukko, and that also had its advantages. Sea, beach and, as an auxiliary platform, a 50 m swimming pool.

But in principle, we are trying to expand the geography of our launches. Here a proposal arose from the Chelyabinsk region to organize All-Russian competitions on Lake Turgoyak, where large amateur competitions with a large number of participants had already taken place.

— How are things going with the Champions Cup?

— We have received information that Kemerovo is not ready to host these competitions. That doesn’t mean he won’t be there next year. But now, for 2024, we are negotiating with Kaliningrad, the competition could take place in the same group where the first stage of the Russian Cup took place.

— Is it already clear where the Russian championships will be held next year?

— So far we have only decided on the dates.

— Is there a chance that swimmers will return to competitions at the Olympic Stadium in 2025?

— As I understand it, the commissioning of the facility is currently planned for 2025, so next year we can hardly expect the return of our major competitions to the Olympic Stadium. We have to wait until the installation is completed and, of course, it is also not worth holding the Russian Championship there right away;

— How is the work of inviting athletes to the Friendship Games going?

— There is progress, but for the moment I do not want to mention the names of the athletes who could come. We are completely open – come visit us. I am sure the competition will be at the highest level. It will be beautiful. And I think the list of participants can be announced after the Olympic Games.

— Are you personally going to the Games in Paris? There will probably be an office meeting there.

— I can go, but you can also join the office meeting online. Additionally, we will be hosting our own competitions this summer. So I don’t see any argument that it’s absolutely necessary to be physically present there. The meetings also take place in a combined format: some are present in person, others via video link.

— Are you prepared that at least until June you will be asked if any of the swimmers are going to the Olympics?

“I already said it, the page is turned.” This is not possible in the current situation, because I cannot imagine that conditions will change and we will suddenly be allowed to be on an equal footing with everyone. The train has already left. Possible relaxations of the conditions so that they are acceptable… This seems unrealistic.

“But there is already an athlete in the team who does not rule out participation in the Games.

“It’s hard for me to imagine how that could be possible.” There are many different parameters and you must also meet the standard. There may be some processes that I don’t know about, but everything related to sending in the application form – we don’t have athletes who have neutral status.

— Is there already an approximate departure plan for the next season?

— We will raise the level of our traditional competitions, we will organize more competitions for children and young people under the auspices of the World Union. The possibility of participating in international competitions remains – it depends, first of all, on the position of countries that are not afraid to invite our athletes to their tournaments. Today, for many tournament organizers, everything is linked to a kind of fear, to sanctions from continental organizations. But the situation is already changing and I do not exclude that next season we will participate in international competitions abroad. What kind of debut that might be, only time will tell.