Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova shattered the 200m breaststroke world record with a time of two minutes 17.55 seconds on the final day of the Russian swimming championships in Kazan on Friday.

The previous record of 2:18.95 was set by South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker in the final of the Tokyo Olympics on July 30, 2021.

Chikunova, then aged 16, finished fourth in that final.

A World Aquatics spokesman said Chikunova’s time “will follow the World Aquatics world record process of approval that any other world record follows.

“Only when the necessary steps are taken and verified can a world record then be ratified.”

Russian and Belarusian swimmers are banned from competing internationally due to the war in Ukraine, but World Aquatics this month established a task force to explore their return as neutrals.

This year’s world swimming championships are scheduled to take place in Fukuoka, Japan from July 14–30.