Today is a super-day! One of the best days in my short sports career! I climbed twice the stand of the winners! 3rd place in the absolute and 1st in the age group! This small victory is really so great for my self-esteem. It's so cool and nice! I'm probably the only one who jumped to the stand in incredible delight when I was announced. Thanks @x_waters! You are the best! And your starts are my undoubted love! I can already be an ambassador!

I must say that X-Waters Volga 2018 was a perfect race. If you like to compete, if you like to swim in a marathon in the biggest river of Europe, you must definitely swim in the Volga. I must thank X-Waters for organizing such great event and for their warm welcome.

Why swim? Why not just go to the bar?! Dozens of these and similar questions I hear every day. And you just try. Touch these emotions. Try this challenge on yourself. Who knows, maybe then you find the answer?.. ;)

Самая большая река в Европе преодолена! Волга удивила своим сильным течением, а Нижний Новгород своей невиданной панорамой. Потрясающе, уж точно одно из самых ярких событий этого лета!

When I am asked "why do you swim?", it is always difficult for me to answer quickly and clearly, it seemed to me that my words were unconvincing. Well, yes, I like water; well, yes, that's a sport and it's good for your back; well, yes, cool hangouts... More important is, to find an answer for myself: what moves me when there is only 20 hours in my dense schedule, and I fly to Nizhny Novgorod, straight from the airport rush to the start, pull the swimming suit on along the run, and fly back when all friends are still asleep; or why do you join those madmen who are swimming at the edge of the earth in the Arctic Ocean... And then it dawned on me: I really really like swimming and I love traveling and adventure! And for me now these words are enough to start planning the next season with X-Waters‑ because that's how I do what I love!

It was just my second start in open water, but all along I involuntarily paid attention to the sincerity and professionalism of the organizers, the general atmosphere. And even the forced cuts in distances and changes in the tracks, thanks to the timely notification and human attitude of the orgies to the swimmers, could not spoil the holiday. Water and everything-everything there were very warm and cool! Thanks to my favorite coach and friends from #mevis for dragging me into all this, #xwaters for a sea of impressions and cool medals, and @maria.shalneva for a cool photo - now I have something to boast of! It seems to me, I had a good celebration of one year since the day I started learning to swim. I improved my personal time - #seligerswim was a success!