Ours are at the Olympics. Evgeniy Somov: the only Russian in swimming at the Games

In May of this year, the junior world champion, Russian swimmer Evgeniy Somov, reminded everyone who seemed to have already written him off. He swam the 100m breaststroke in Atlanta faster than the Russian record, which belonged to Anton Chupkov, and climbed into the top three of the world rankings.

immediately contacted the coach of the junior team, Lidia Kapkova, and then Mikhail Chernyshev, with whom Somov trained in St. Petersburg and achieved high results in this age category. Chernyshev was glad that Somov was again at a good level, and a few months later he received neutral status and, thanks to the same result in the 100 m breaststroke presented in Atlanta, became the only Russian swimmer and, in principle, the only representative of aquatics at the Paris Games.

“I have only one standard in breaststroke, only 100m,” Somov told at the time. In the Games bid, he is also listed at 50m.

When the IOC announced that Evgeniy had been admitted to the Games, he immediately sent a positive response. “I just woke up, of course, I will confirm it,” Zhenya noted.

We contacted Chernyshev again: “Somov had good prospects, results among juniors: he won the European Championship and the World Championship, went to study in the USA. There he took a break from competitive training, but he returned – and swam faster than the Russian record. I am happy for him. I have already checked when the 100m breaststroke will take place at the Olympics, I will check again what exactly is scheduled and broadcast and, of course, I will watch.

Somov started swimming in St. Petersburg. “We personally met him to sit and talk like this at one Russian championship, but I also know his coach and we have many mutual friends,” says Vladislav Finoshenko, who trained in St. Petersburg in the same pool as Somov. — I trained in Raduga, he trained in SKA with Mikhail Valerievich Chernyshov. Open and good, his friends speak only positively about him. He had very good results at the youth level. At the selection in Tokyo, he was a little lacking, our breaststroke is very competitive. Zhenya is a lover of American youth culture, rap music and sneaker culture. I could stand in line all night for rare sneakers. But he always worked hard in training – with his results in the 200 meters, it could not be otherwise.

In my opinion, he had a good foundation here, which allowed him to perform with limited training in America for several years. He is an adequate guy, not crazy. He trains himself and trains others. Naturally, I wish him nothing but good luck.

Somov’s main achievements so far remain at the junior level. At the Junior World Championships in Indianapolis, he, Nikita Tretyakov, Egor Kuimov and Ivan Girev won the medley relay with a competition record. The second were then the Italians with Thomas Ceccon in their lineup. There was also bronze in the mixed combined with Kuimov, Polina Egorova and Vasilisa Buyna. At the European Championships in 2017, he won the 200m breaststroke, but is now moving away from big volumes. At that tournament, he also started the relay with Kliment Kolesnikov.

“We have known each other since my first European Youth Championship in Hungary. We accompanied him in junior competitions until 2018. Then it so happened that he went to the USA to study and swim. An ordinary guy. I was surprised and happy that after such a lull he swam faster than the Russian record. That’s good! And the fact that he decided to go to the Olympics… I take it calmly, it’s his choice,” Kliment says.

Somov, after successful performances in juniors, went to study in the United States. From St. Petersburg to the United States, Andrei Minakov, a medalist at the World Championships, made the same journey at the same time. After the junior team, as an adult, he and Somov already crossed paths in the NCAA. “He graduated, became the NCAA relay champion and won the 100m breaststroke in his conference for many years in a row. Then I graduated, took a break from competitions, started working as a coach and continue to coach today.

Before Tokyo, Somov lost the selection in his distances. World record holders Chupkov and Kirill Prigoda went to these Olympics with breaststroke swimmers. Today, Somov is going to the Games with a result at the top of the world ranking. “I don’t know him very well,” Prigoda says. — We crossed paths several times at the Russian Championship. As far as I know, he is also from St. Petersburg, but lives in the United States. I will support him – he is our compatriot. In general, there are many interesting events in breaststroke. And Yulia Efimova tried to qualify, and Ilya Shimanovich and Zhenya Somov will swim at the Olympics. Breaststroke is quite interesting!

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