Yuri (Yury) Kudinov (Russian: Юрий Кудинов) of Volgograd is another great Russian crossover swimmer. After years of hard pool training as a 400- and 1500-meter freestyler, Yuri shifted gears and 25K races became his domain.
Yuri continued the long list of strong Russian 25K swimmers and confirmed his status as probably the greatest as he won his specialty at the 2000 World Open Water Swimming Championship, the 2001 FINA World Championships, the 2002 World Open Water Swimming Championships, the 2003 FINA World Championships and the 2007 World Swimming Championships with silver medals at the 2004 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championship and at the 2006 World Open Water Swimming Championships and a bronze at the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships.
In addition to facing down the fastest long-distance men in competitions, Yuri also swam one of the fastest times ever recorded in the English Channel when he swam 7 hours and 5 minutes across the Channel on a spectacular day when he just fell short behind Petar Stoychev>.
Yuri's record of accomplishment is impressive, especially given the fact that he was consistently strong in cold water, warm water, flat water, rough water, salt water and fresh water proving his versatility as one of the world's fastest open water swimmers:
FINA World Championsips: 2000 25K gold (Honolulu, Hawaii), 2001 25K gold (Fukuoka, Japan), 2002 25K gold (Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt), 2003 25K gold (Barcelona, Spain), 2004 25K silver (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), 2006 25K silver (Naples, Italy), 2007 25K gold (Melbourne, Australia) and 2008 25K bronze (Seville, Spain).
LEN European Championships: 2002 25K gold (Berlin, Germany)
Other: 1995 16K silver Russian National Open Water Championships (Black Sea), 1997 16K silver and 5K gold Russian National Open Water Championships (Black Sea), 1998 15K gold European Cup (Czech Republic), 1998 16K gold Russian National Open Water Championships (Black Sea), 1998 25K gold Open Championship of Japan, 1998 16K gold FINA World Cup (Croatia), 2000 16K gold and 5K gold Russian National Open Water Championships (Black Sea), 2000 9K bronze and 16K silver FINA World Cup (Bled, Slovenia), 2001 16K gold and 5K gold Russian National Open Water Swimming Championships (Black Sea), 2001 25K gold Cup 'de maestro' (Argentina), 2001 25K gold FINA World Cup (Haikou, Hainan, China), 2003 37K gold FINA World Cup (Atlantic City, USA), 2004 36K gold FINA World Cup (Maratona del Golfo, Capri-Napoli, Italy), 2004 30K bronze FINA World Cup (Ohrid, Macedonia), 2004 16K gold Russian National Open Water Championships (Black Sea), 2005 10K bronze FINA World Cup (Hong Kong), 2005 10K bronze FINA World Cup (Al Fujairah, United Arab Emirates), 2005 16K gold Russian National Open Water Championships, 2006 36K gold FINA World Cup (Maratona del Golfo, Capri-Napoli, Italy), 2007 10K silver FINA World Cup (Santos, Brazil), 2008 10K bronze FINA World Cup (Setubal, Portugal), 2009 relay 5K silver Russian National Open Water Championships.
How serious is Yuri? The man runs into the water on his English Channel attempt. Check it Pavel Kuznetsov's 4-minute video with dramatic music below. In Pavel's the video, you can see how close Yuri's boat started after Peter Stoychev's boat. You can see the full Russian-language version here.
Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association
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