RIDING THE WAVE

From October 1 to 3, the Water Sports Palace successfully hosted the opening leg of the “Silk Road” Swimming World Cup, an official competition sanctioned by World Aquatics.

This landmark sporting event featured intense and thrilling competition among the world’s leading swimmers in a 25-metre short-course pool.

216 athletes from 44 countries

The tournament marked an important chapter in the history of Azerbaijani sport, with new world records and historic achievements by the country’s athletes.

The Baku leg was the first—and one of the most spectacular—events in a series of competitions held in three major Eurasian cities situated along the historic Silk Road. The tournament brought together 216 athletes from 44 countries. Fans and international experts alike praised the high standard of its organisation.

The opening ceremony was attended by Farid Gayibov, Minister of Youth and Sport; Zaur Aliyev, president of the Azerbaijan Swimming Federation; and Husain Al-Musallam, president of World Aquatics. They emphasised that hosting a competition of this calibre in Baku would make a valuable contribution to the development of sport in the country.

The presentation of the World Aquatics Foundation’s Environmental Award to Azerbaijan was symbolically significant. The official tournament mascots—Araz, Damla and Khazar—helped draw attention to the sustainable use of water resources and the environmental condition of the Caspian Sea, once again demonstrating sport’s social responsibility.

Azerbaijani and World Cup records

Azerbaijan was represented by 15 swimmers at this prestigious tournament. Despite the high level of competition, the young athletes showed determination and a strong will to win, setting seven Azerbaijani records and recording 16 personal bests.

Representing the national team, Yegor Mainitsky completed the 200-metre individual medley in 2:03.69, Anastasia Boborikina finished the 100-metre breaststroke in 1:15.32, and Anastasia Gnusina swam the 200-metre backstroke in 2:20.68. All three set new Azerbaijani records.

Other young swimmers also achieved the best results of their careers in the Baku pool: Oqtay Huseynov in the 400-metre freestyle, Ramal Sadygly in the 100-metre freestyle, and Amin Orujlu and Farhad Shirmammadli in the 1,500-metre freestyle.

The tournament’s total prize fund was $1.2 million, with an additional $10,000 bonus for each world record. This further intensified competition among the participants. In the men’s 100-metre freestyle, Russia’s Yegor Kornev was in a class of his own, clocking 44.84 seconds to equal the world record. He finished top of the men’s standings on points.

Renowned Australian swimmer Cameron McEvoy set a new World Cup record in the 50-metre freestyle, completing the distance in 20.22 seconds.

Among the women, Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen was the star of the tournament, winning four gold medals and finishing top of the points table.

Fans also had the opportunity to watch world-class stars such as Xinyan Xie and Siobhan Haughey compete live.

Qualification points for Beijing

The Baku leg provided a significant boost to athletes seeking qualification for the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), which will take place in Beijing in December. Under the rules of the “Silk Road” competition, swimmers who finish in the top three in the individual finals earn the necessary qualification points. Although this competition was organised as a large-scale one-off event, further legs of the series will be hosted by Tashkent and Astana in the coming weeks.

This prestigious tournament, together with the annual congress of the European Swimming Federation that followed it, demonstrates Azerbaijan’s growing standing on the global aquatic-sports scene and its readiness to host higher-level competitions in the future.