Olympic Medalist Yuliya Efimova Misses Paris Qualification Chance In The Bahamas
By Retta Race on SwimSwam
52ND BAHAMAS NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Thursday, June 20th – Monday, June 24th
Betty Kelly Kenning Aquatics Centre, Nassau, Bahamas
LCM (50m)
Recap #1
Results – Meet Mobile: 52nd Bahamas National Swimming Championships
Russian Yuliya Efimova‘s bid to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games as a neutral athlete has ended, with the 32-year-old missing out while competing in the Bahamas.
Racing at the 52nd Bahamas National Swimming Championships, Efimova competed in the 50m, 100m and 200m breast events, focusing on the 100m distance as her potential Paris event.
After producing times of 31.47 in the 50m and 2:29.09 in the 200m, the Olympic medalist logged a result of 1:07.98 in the 100m.
Splitting 32.58/35.40, Efimova’s time fell over a second short of the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 1:06.79.
Efimova’s 100m breast lifetime best rests at the 1:04.36 she produced at the 2017 World Championships while her most recent time sits at the 1:06.02 she produced en route to 5th place at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Russian and Belarusian swimmers have been under sanction from World Aquatics dating back to March 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In September 2023, World Aquatics approved Russian and Belarusian participation as individual, neutral athletes under a strict set of criteria.
Belarusians Anastasia Shkurdai and Ilya Shymanovich were among those who represented the Neutral Independent Athletes at this year’s World Championships.
Yuliya Efimova’s Olympic Performance History
2008 Beijing – 4th 100m breaststroke, 5th 200m breaststroke
2012 London – 7th 100m breaststroke, BRONZE 200m breaststroke
2016 Rio – SILVER 100m breaststroke, SILVER 200m breaststroke
2020 Tokyo – 5th 100m breaststroke
During her career, Efimova was involved in the meldonium doping scandal in which nearly 300 Russian athletes tested positive for the banned substance in 2016.
After initially being put under a temporary suspension, World Aquatics (then FINA) wound up dropping the charges against Efimova.
FINA Drops Meldonium Charges Against Efimova, Cleared for Rio
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