Ilya Borodin: “I would like to compete with Marchand in Budapest. There will be people there!

Russian swimmer Ilya Borodin told that at the World Championships in Budapest he would like to compete with the four-time Olympic champion Leon Marchand .

Borodin won the 400m medley final (3:57.67) at the Russian Short Course Swimming Championships, which take place in St. Petersburg from November 21-26. It’s the best time of the season in the world. His result surpassed the time of Frenchman Marchand, which he showed in October at the World Cup – 3 minutes 58.30 seconds.

— Have you followed the world results this season?

— I opened the rankings and looked at the stages of the World Cup. The fact that this is the first result of the season – I think it will be greatly improved soon.

– But are you happy yourself?

– You always want to do better. I won’t be satisfied until this result becomes the best in the world in general.

— How did the race itself go?

— It turns out I got off to a better start. Now it was not bad, I turned around, 300 m is better than the Russian record in general. The finish was missing. Then he was very good to me. My rivals then helped me – I was behind and caught up with them. It’s easier when you’re in the lead yourself and fighting to accelerate as much as possible. But I will say that I gave everything today.

—Did you expect such weather from you?

– I was waiting. Because the guys have been swimming fast at this distance almost all season. I think they still don’t sleep, but work. In a few weeks we will see who is ready for what.

— Will you be able to accelerate even more between now and December 10, when the World Championships begin in Budapest?

– Let me correct you – by December 14, on this day the final at this distance will take place. I always want to speed up. It’s normal that you’re never happy with the result unless it’s a world record. Let’s try to continue working.

— Will four-time Olympic champion Léon Marchand come to Hungary?

– I think so. I wish he would go away.

— Organize a duel with the Frenchman?

“I think a lot of people there will be able to fight. There will be a lot of people there,” Borodin told .

The world record for this distance in a short course is 3:54.81, and the European record was set three years ago by Borodin himself (3:56.47).

Watch live broadcasts of the Russian Short Course Swimming Championship on and the holding’s channels, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.

More sports news in our telegram channel .