First day of the Russian national swimming championship started in the Kazan's Aquatic Palace. FINA Development team will remember this day for good sports results, as well as the opportunity to feel the sports spirit, being in the same pool with the strongest swimmers from Russia. In total, more than 600 athletes will compete in this National championship.

Persistent weeks of preparation for the Russian Olympic trials can already bear fruit, and most importantly, analyze some technical and tactical aspects necessary for the next big competitions.

As for today, 7 out of 14 FINA Development athletes competed in the morning session (heats).

1) Luis Vega Torres (Cuba) in the morning heats showed a brilliant time -4:25.77, by perfect spreading the forces for the entire 400 meter distance, thereby allowing himself to qualify for finals at 400 meter Individual medley.

In the evening, Luis showed calmness, coping with the excitement before the final. The result is a good time – 4:25.86, which the Cuban swimmer is very happy about.

Luis himself did not expect that in the long absence of major championships he would be able to pass into the finals and compete with the strongest Russian swimmers.

2) Lorena Gonzalez (Cuba) showed a decent time of 1:03.83 in the preliminary heat of the 100 meter Fly, which is better than her last result by 2 seconds. Once again, Lorena proved that she able to properly prepare for the big starts in the future.
3) Ado Gargovic (Montenegro) swam the 400 meter freestyle in 4:11.11, which is a NEW Montenegrin National record. The previous one improved by 8 seconds. This is not the main distance for Ado, but he learns it gradually. The national record is proof of that.

4) Franсi Aleksi (Albania) swam the same distance in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:08.91, but he was very close to his personal best. The first 200 meters were given very confidently, but on the last approaches to the finish line a little was not enough. However, as he said everything will be taken into account.

5) The final morning session distance for the FINA Development scholarship holders was the 100-meter breaststroke, where the newly arrived athlete Jonathan Chung Yee (Mauritius) showed a good result of 1:07.64, considering that he did not participate in large competitions for more than a year and had a big flight two days ago.

6) Ishihaka Irankunda (Rwanda) also showed a good result in the 100-meter breaststroke, close to the national record – 1:11,62. He was able to feel the atmosphere of a big competition, get experience from Russian stars.

7) Bisma Khan (Pakistan) swam 50 meters backstroke for 31.98 seconds. The start let the athlete down a little, but the overall impression of swimming remained positive. Her main disciplines are ahead of her.

Swimming coach Pavel Kutashev gave a small comment on the results of the day:

"Today was a good start for our team in this championship. Of course, the first day is always difficult for athletes, and not all of our swimmers were able to complete the tasks. Today I would like to note the performances of some athletes. Gargovic Ado updated the national record for the 400-meter freestyle. New athlete Jonathan showed a result close to his best, despite the lack of competition experience over the past year and a half. And, of course, the best athlete of the day – Luis Vega, he made it to the final and twice showed a result close to the national record of Cuba. We are happy for his progress.»

9 athletes of FINA Development team will compete in the morning heats on 4^th of April in the following disciplines: 50 m fly (men), 400 m free (women), 200 m free (women), 100 m back (women).

We have 6 more competition days. There is a lot of work ahead, but we believe in a common goal and result - in progress.