Pavel Sankovich

Pavel Sankovich
Personal information
Full name Pavel Paulavich Sankovich
National team  Belarus
Born (1990-06-29) 29 June 1990
Grodno, Belarusian SSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 78 kg (172 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Backstroke, butterfly
Club SK VS Minsk[1]
College team Florida State University (U.S.)
Coach Henadziy Vishniakou
Frank Bradley (U.S.)[1]

Pavel Paulavich Sankovich (Belarusian: Павел Паўлавіч Санковіч; born 29 June 1990) is a Belarusian swimmer, who specialized in sprint backstroke and butterfly events.[1][2] He represented his native Belarus in two editions of the Olympic Games (2008 and 2012), and has won a total of seven bronze medals in a major international competition, spanning the long and short course European Championships.[3]

Career

Early years

Sankovich made his first Belarusian team, as an 18-year-old, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, competing in both the 100 m backstroke and the medley relay. Leading up to the Games, he broke a Belarusian record and cleared a FINA B-cut of 56.10 at the Belarusian National Championships in Minsk.[4] In the 100 m backstroke, Sankovich came only in second behind Colombia's Omar Pinzón by 0.28 of a second with 55.39 seconds, but failed to advance to the semifinals, finishing twenty-ninth out of 45 entrants in the prelims.[5] Few days later, he joined with fellow swimmers and teammates Yauheni Lazuka, Viktar Vabishchevich, and two-time Olympian Stanislau Neviarouski for the men's 4 × 100 m medley relay. Swimming the backstroke leg, Sankovich recorded a time of 55.11 seconds, and the Belarusian team went on to finish the heats in sixteenth place, for a total time of 3:39.39.[6]

Four years after competing in his last Olympics, Sankovich qualified for his second Belarusian team, as a 22-year-old, at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, by eclipsing a FINA B-standard entry time of 54.56 in the men's 100 m backstroke.[7][8] He topped the third heat of his respective event with a new Belarusian record of 54.53, but narrowly missed a spot in the semifinals by one hundredth of a second (0.01) behind Olympic veteran Aristeidis Grigoriadis, placing eighteenth out of 43 swimmers in the prelims.[9] In the 100 m butterfly, Sankovich finished the race in thirty-fourth overall by seven hundredths of a second (0.07) behind Switzerland's Dominik Meichtry with 53.47.[10]

Post-London era

In January 2013, Sankovich attended the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, where he majored in social science.[11] While swimming for the Florida State Seminoles under head coach Frank Bradley, Sankovich had obtained a total of five individual event All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, and set five university records for two consecutive seasons in the 100 m backstroke, 100 m butterfly, and 200 m individual medley.[12]

Sankovich showed a tremendous improvement on the international scene at the 2014 European Championships in Berlin, Germany, overhauling the 52-second barrier in the 100 m butterfly to produce his own lifetime best (51.92) and collect his first ever bronze medal of the meet.[13][14] The 2015 season brought a stellar feat for Sankovich, as he swam a career best and the world's third fastest time (51.57) in the 100 m butterfly at the Belarus Open, but could not chase his rival Yauhen Tsurkin by 0.13 of a second to lower the new Belarusian record.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pavel Sankovich". London 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Pavel Sankovich". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  3. ↑ "European Short Course Championships: Jeanette Ottesen Has Impressive Day". Swimming World Magazine. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "Olympic Cut Sheet – Men's 100m Backstroke" (PDF). Swimming World Magazine. p. 23. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  5. ↑ "Swimming: Men's 100m Backstroke Heat 2". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  6. ↑ "Men's 4×100m Medley Relay Heat 1". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  7. ↑ "Qualifying Athletes – Men's 100 m backstroke" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "Swimmer Pavel Sankovich qualifies for 2012 Olympics". Belarusian Telegraph Agency. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Men's 100m Backstroke Heat 3". London 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  10. ↑ "Men's 100m Butterfly Heat 2". London 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  11. ↑ Herdt, Layne (26 March 2013). "The Belarusian Bullet". Florida State Seminoles. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "Virginia Tech Ahead of N.C. State After Day Three of ACCs; FSU's Pavel Sankovich With Stellar Night". Swimming World Magazine. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "Mireia Belmonte Garcia Posts Eye-Catching Double During Night Six at European Championships". Swimming World Magazine. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Lord, Craig (25 February 2014). "Euro Champs: Czerniak & Kawecki End Title Drought For Poland With One Day To Go". Swim Vortex. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Salerno, Christa (20 April 2015). "Sankovich Shines at Belarus Open". Florida Swim Network. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.