The 2025 Russian Swimming Cup took place Wednesday and Thursday with several of the nation's big guns in the water to kick off their 2025 year of racing.

The former saw Samusenko register a time of 22.54 to get the edge over Egor Kornev and Vasily Kukushkin who settled for the minor medals. Kornev touched in a time of 22.78 and Kukushkin hit 22.86.

In the 50m back, Samusenko logged 24.78 to top the podium by a full second. Danil Zakozhurnikov produced 25.78 for silver and Evgeny Rylov posted 25.81. Samusenko's effort fell a half second off his lifetime best of 24.28 registered at the 2023 Russian Championships.

Samusenko's result rendered him ranked 3rd in the world on the season.

Belarusian Olympian Anastasiya Shkurdai put her backstroke prowess on display, capturing the wins in both the 100m and 200m distances.

22-year-old Shkurdai touched the wall in 1:00.63 in the shorter distance to score the sole time of the field under the 1:01 barrier. The 200m back saw Shkurdai hit 2:08.76 to beat the pack by nearly 4 seconds en route to gold.

Shkurdai now ranks #1 in the world in the season.

Alina Gayfutdinova denied Shkurdai the backstroke sweep, however, as she grabbed gold in the 50m in a rapid time of 28.10.

That held a healthy advantage over Shkurdai who settled for silver over half a second back in 28.71 while Daria Ustinova rounded out the podium in 29.05.