Tuesday, 4 January 2022

2021 Swammy Awards: European Male Swimmer Of The Year, Evgeny Rylov | SwimSwam

By Ben Dornan on SwimSwam

To see all of our 2021 Swammy Awards, click here.

2021 EUROPEAN MALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: EVGENY RYLOV

The European men had a relatively dominant showing at the Tokyo 2020 Games, winning 22 out of 42 individual medals at the meet. At least one European man stood on every podium at the Games except for in the 400 freestyle and 400 IM. In many events, Europeans won 2/3 of available medals, and in the men’s 100 breaststroke Europe swept the podium as Adam Peaty, Arno Kamminga, and Nicolo Martinenghi went 1-2-3.

It was a different sweep, however, that made the case for this year’s European Male Swimmer of the Year as Evgeny Rylov took gold in both the 100 and 200 backstrokes in Tokyo. Rylov was entered in Tokyo as the top seed in both events but was not the heavy favorite to win considering that reigning champion Ryan Murphy had not yet swum to his full potential prior to Tokyo. Rylov would have to hold off Murphy, along with a crowded field of backstrokers including Kliment Kolesnikov, Luke Greenbank, Xu Jiayu, Hunter Armstrong, Mitch Larkin, and others.

In the 100 backstroke, both Rylov and Murphy were relatively slow in the first round. They both swam a 53.22 during prelims, which tied them for 7th overall. Murphy jumped to 1st place in the semi-finals with a 52.24, while Rylov stayed out of the top 3 in a 52.91 for 5th.

When it came down to the final, however, Rylov unleashed an electrifying swim of 51.98 to dip under 52 seconds for the first time, break the European record, and win Olympic gold. Rylov beat fellow Russian and silver medalist Kliment Kolesnikov by just 0.02 seconds and downed Camille Lacourt‘s former European record of 52.12 from 2010. Rylov had become the 4th fastest man in the history of the event behind Murphy (51.85), Xu Jiayu (51.86), and Aaron Piersol (51.94).

The day after winning his first-ever Olympic medal, Rylov got to work again in the men’s 200 backstroke prelims. With an event win in the bag, Rylov seemed a little less reserved in the 200 heats and swam a 1:56.02 for 2nd overall in round 1, but trailed Luke Greenbank‘s 1:54.63 but roughly a second and a half.

Rylov got down to a 1:54 during the semi-final, leading the pack with a 1:54.45, while Greenbank was a 1:54.98 and Murphy a 1:55.38 for 3rd heading into the final. Just as he did in the 100, Rylov got to the wall first in the 200 backstroke final, winning Olympic gold in Olympic record time of 1:53.27.

Notably, that swim by Rylov in the Olympic final was actually his second-fastest swim of the year in that event. He had swum a 1:53.23 European record in the event a few months earlier at the Russian Championships.

So in 2021, Rylov won Olympic gold in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, defeating the reigning champion in both and world record holder in the 100 (Ryan Murphy), he set a new European record in both events and set an Olympic record in the 200. No other European men were quite as dominant this year in more than one event.

In addition to his individual events in Tokyo, Rylov also threw down some solid relay swims and wound up with a third Olympic medal in the 4×200 freestyle relay. He contributed a 1:45.26 split for the Russian Olympic Committee, which helped the team finish second overall with a 7:01.81 to Great Britain’s 6:458.58 for gold.

After the Olympic Games, Rylov continued racing at the top level by competing for Energy Standard in the International Swimming League. Rylov was a key member of Energy Standard’s eventual season 3 victory. He won the 100 backstroke 3 times and the 200 backstroke twice for his team, including a double victory in the event at the 2021 ISL final. Rylov finished 8th overall in MVP points at the final match of the season and was the 13th-highest points scorer season-wide.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

  • Tom Dean (GBR): Tom Dean entered 2021 with a PB of 1:47.34 in the long course 200 freestyle; a time that would have 26th overall at the Olympic Games. He wasted no time in Tokyo, however, rocketing to a 1:45.24 heats swim in the event, followed by a 1:45.34 in the semi-finals. Ultimately, Dean swam his way to Olympic gold in the event with a 1:44.22 British record. He became the fastest man in British history event and had won his first-ever major international medal in the form of Olympic gold. Dean became a two-time Olympic medalist in Tokyo by swimming the leading leg of the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay. He opened with a 1:45.72 and was followed by James Guy, Matt Richards, and Duncan Scott, who together produced a 6:58.58 European record for gold.
  • Kristof Milak (HUN): For the two years following his world record-breaking 200 butterfly at the 2019 World Championships, Kristof Milak was the standout favorite to win Olympic gold in the 200 butterfly. He pulled off the feat in Tokyo by swimming a 1:51.25, which trailed his WR, but got him Olympic gold by more than 2 seconds. The swim also marked a new Olympic record in the event, improving upon Michael Phelps’ 1:52.03. Milak also raced to a silver medal in the 100 butterfly in Tokyo and gave world record-breaker Caeleb Dressel a run for his money. Milak swam a 49.68 European record in the final, which trailed Dressel’s winning 49.45 by only 0.23 seconds.
  • While Kliment Kolesnikov is the only man on this list who didn’t win Olympic gold in 2021, he had a number of swims in 2021 that make him worthy of a mention. In Tokyo, he finished second overall in the 100 backstroke with a 52.00, which was only 0.02 seconds slower than victor Evgeny Rylov and made him the 5th-fastest man in history. Kolesnikov also picked up a bronze medal in the 100 freestyle when he swam a 47.44 to join Caeleb Dressel (47.02) and Kyle Chalmers (47.44) on the podium. Kolesnikov’s most notable 100 freestyle, however, was during the semi-finals where he posted a field-leading 47.11. That swim was a European record and made him the 9th fastest man in history. Prior to his Olympic performance, Kolesnikov delivered a world record-breaking swim of 23.80 in the 50 backstroke at the 2021 European Championships. That swim was the second time he had broken the world record in 2 days, following a 23.93 the day before. Kolesnikov remains the only man to ever break 24 seconds in the long course 50 backstroke.

PAST WINNERS

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