Kirill Martynychev, a first-year master's student of the SPbGASU Faculty of Civil Engineering, took part in the World Short Course Swimming Championships held in the capital of Hungary. He took seventh place in the final 1500 m freestyle.

This is far from Kirill's first participation in international competitions. The champion and prize winner of the European Championships in the 1500 m swim, the finalist of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the silver medalist of the World Cup admits that after a fairly long break due to geopolitical events, he is happy to compete in international championships again. Russian swimmers learned about their upcoming participation in the World Championship literally a few weeks beforehand. During this time, the Russian Championship was held, which served as a qualifying round. Kirill took first place in the 1500 m freestyle swim and second place in the 800 m, breaking the Russian record. However, this achievement was not officially registered due to some nuances in the rules.

"My parents sent me to swimming when I was still a baby to improve my health. When I grew up, I also became interested in football. But soon I made my final choice in sports. I am a member of the Russian national team. The last time I competed was at the European Championship in Kazan, since due to the well-known events, Russian athletes were banned from competing in international competitions. We only participated at the All-Russian level and in the Friendship Games, and we were very happy to return to international sports," Kirill said.

He explained that the neutral status imposes strict restrictions: Russian athletes were not only prohibited from wearing Russian paraphernalia, openly cheering for their sportsmen, but also from even pronouncing the name of their country, giving interviews to the media, and covering their participation on the Internet. But the outcome of the performance was affected by a completely different and unpredictable situation: Kirill fell ill immediately upon arrival and had not fully recovered even on the fifth day, by the time of the 800 m swim. The athlete admits that this prevented him from achieving victory, but he definitely received the long-awaited emotions and additional motivation.

"Luckily, on the third day of the championship we were finally allowed to openly support our athletes, and then completely different emotions began! We really enjoyed our stay in Budapest, because the atmosphere of the competition was cool, friendly, we felt the support and sympathy of all the foreign athletes. The design of the pool was also impressive. I competed here five years ago. This time, the 50-meter-long pool was divided in half by a model of the famous Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest, according to the necessary rules. It was very beautiful!

The very presence at an international competition inspires me, and I hope that I will realize my full potential at the World Championship in Singapore in July 2025. Because I have the strength, desire and potential,” Kirill concluded.