By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
One of the top swims of the entire Swimming World Cup (SCM) tour on the Silk Road came in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where South African superstar Pieter Coetze took down the World Record in the 50-meter backstroke in 22.09, just undercutting the former all-time best from Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov by two hundredths of a second at 22.11.
This record raised a few eyebrows in the swimming world, considering Coetze has been showcasing his ability in the 100 and 200 backstroke distances.
Coetze is among the leaders of this newer wave of world-class backstrokers, alongside Hungary’s Hubert Kos. Together, they hold all three SCM backstroke world records.
Meanwhile, Kliment Kolesnikov has been among the world’s top backstrokers for a better part of a decade now, though he shows no signs of calling it any time soon at just 26.
In an interview with Russian news outlet Match.TV, Kolesnikov spoke about his now-broken record, congratulating his opponent and praising his swim, given his lack of short-course racing experience.
“I didn’t expect him to break the world record at all. It’s amazing!” Kolesnikov said in the interview with Match.TV. “Considering this is only the second stage of the World Cup and he’s never really swum in short courses, it’s really cool.”
With the Short Course World Championships coming up in December, Kolesnikov isn’t looking far ahead to the difference between himself and the rest of the potential field in Beijing, especially Coetze.
“I have some ideas on how to compete with the guys. Considering I swam in 22.11, the difference between us isn’t that big—just 0.02 seconds. Kolesnikov said. “So overall, it doesn’t make my life any harder.”
Kolesnikov ran 22.11 at the Russian Short Course Championships in November 2022; since then, he has been under 22.4 only once, at the Vladimir Salnikov Cup in December 2022, about three weeks after his World-Record performance. So far in 2026, his fastest time came in Tashkent, where he finished 6th in the final, behind not only Coetze but also fellow countrymen Egor Kornev (22.29) and Pavel Samusenko (22.35).
At the Short Course World Championships, each country can enter only two swimmers per event, which may leave Kolesnikov out of the 50 back picture entirely. However, he will have a chance to earn that spot at the 2026 Russian National Swimming Championships in St. Petersburg early next month, which Russia uses as its primary domestic selection meet.
Of his primary short-course events, the 50 back is his most recent lifetime best, which, as mentioned, came late in 2022. He still has other events where he can qualify for the team, such as the 100 back or 100 IM, though if the World Cup tells us anything, there is serious depth in Russian swimming.
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