Kirill Strelnikov (born 29 May 1992) is a Russian competitive swimmer. He won a gold medal in the 4×50 metre medley relay at the 2021 World Short Course Championships and the 4×100 metre medley relay at the 2013 World University Games, swimming the breaststroke leg of both relays in the final. At the 2021 European Short Course Championships he won a bronze medal in the 4×50 metre mixed medley relay, swimming the breaststroke leg of the relay in the preliminaries.
Background
Strelnikov was born on 29 May 1992 in Volgograd, Russia and started competitive swimming in 1999. To complement his in-the-pool regimen, he has worked at the Laboratory of Sports Adaptology, in Moscow, as a specialist.
Career
2012–2013: International debut
2012 European Aquatics Championships
At the 2012 European Aquatics Championships in Debrecen, Hungary in May, Strelnikov placed fifth in the final of the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:01.12, finishing 0.19 seconds behind the bronze medalist in the event Mattia Pesce of Italy. In the semifinals of the 50 metre breaststroke three days later, he placed 14th with a time of 28.25 seconds. Two days later, he split a 1:00.17 in the final of the 4×100 metre medley relay to place fifth with finals relay teammates Vitaly Borisov (backstroke), Nikita Konovalov (butterfly), and Vitaly Syrnikov (freestyle).
2013 World University Games
On the second day of the 2013 World University Games, held at the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan in mid-July, Strelnikov placed fourth in the final of the 100 metre breaststroke, finishing with a time of 1:00.48 that was 0.12 seconds slower than the bronze medalist Edoardo Giorgetti of Italy. Five days later, he won a gold medal as part of the 4×100 metre medley relay, swimming a 1:00.06 for the breaststroke leg of the relay to contribute to the winning time of 3:34.27 with finals relay teammates Vladimir Morozov (backstroke), Evgenii Koptelov (butterfly), and Andrey Grechin (freestyle).
2013 World Aquatics Championships
For his first event of the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain in late July, Strelnikov swam a personal best time of 59.80 seconds in the preliminary heats of the 100 metre breaststroke, advancing to the semifinals ranking second behind Christian Sprenger of Australia. In the semifinals later in the day, he ranked ninth with a time of 59.94 seconds, which was just 0.02 seconds behind the slowest qualifier for the final and eighth-ranked swimmer, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan. Two days later, he qualified for the semifinals of the 50 metre breaststroke ranking fifth with a 27.36 in the prelims heats. He posted a time of 27.75 seconds in the semifinals, ranking 13th and not advancing to the final of the event. On the final day of competition five days later, Strelnikov split a 59.84 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×100 metre medley relay in the prelims heats, helping qualify the relay to the final tied in rank for second with prelims relay teammates Vladimir Morozov (backstroke), Nikolay Skvortsov (butterfly), and Nikita Lobintsev (freestyle). For the final, Yevgeny Korotyshkin substituted in for Nikolay Skvortsov, Andrey Grechin substituted in for Nikita Lobintsev, Strelnikov split a 59.24 for the 100 metre breaststroke portion, and the relay placed fourth in a time of 3:32.74.
2013 Swimming World Cup
At the 2013 Swimming World Cup stop in Moscow, and conducted in short course metres, Strelnikov swam a 27.62 in the prelims heats of the 50 metre breaststroke, qualifying for the final ranking eighth. In the evening final, he won the bronze medal with a time of 27.20 seconds, finishing 1.37 seconds behind gold medalist in the event Roland Schoeman of South Africa. The following day, he placed 20th in the prelims heats of the 100 metre breaststroke with a 1:01.35 and did not advance to the final.
2021: Return after 8 year hiatus from international championships
In the 50 metre breaststroke at the 2021 Russia National Championships in April, also serving as the Russian Olympic Trials for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Strelnikov won the gold medal with a personal best time of 26.78 seconds, however he did not qualify to compete at the Olympic Games as the event was not offered as part of the Olympic program for the year. The time of 26.78 seconds ranked him as the fourth-fastest performer in the event for the entire 2021 year, 0.57 seconds behind first-ranked Adam Peaty of Great Britain, 0.39 seconds behind second-ranked Nicolò Martinenghi of Italy, 0.32 behind third-ranked Ilya Shymanovich of Belarus, and 0.02 seconds ahead of fifth-ranked Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands.