Anton Chupkov

Anton Mikhailovich Chupkov (Антон Михайлович Чупков; born 22 February 1997) is a Russian competitive swimmer.

He is the European record holder in the long course 200 metre breaststroke and the Russian record holder in the long course 100 metre breaststroke.

He formerly held the world record in the long course 200 metre breaststroke.

He has been member of the Russian Federation youth national team in swimming since 2013.

In 2013, Chupkov competed at the 2013 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival taking the gold medal in 200 metre breaststroke and the silver medal in the 100 metre breaststroke.

Chupkov swam distances of 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke in 2014.

In 2014, Chupkov competed at the 2014 European Junior Championships winning two bronze medals, one in the 50 metre breaststroke and one in the 100 metre breaststroke, a silver medal in the 200 metre breaststroke, and he won gold medals as part of the Russian team in 4×100 metre medley relay and the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay.

From 17 to 22 August, Chupkov competed at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, where he won five medals including gold medals in 100 metre breaststroke and 4×100 metre medley relay.

Chupkov broke two world junior records including a previous record set by himself at the 2014 Youth Olympics.

He was selected as the Russian athlete to serve as flag bearer for and carry the flag of Russia at the closing ceremony of the Games.

At the 2015 European Games he won four gold medals in individual and relay events.

On 20 April 2015, when he was 18 years old, Chupkov won the gold medal and became the Russian champion in the 200 metre breaststroke.

He also competed in the 50 metre and 100 metre breaststroke.

In June 2015 at the inaugural 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan Chupkov won four gold medals, in the 200 metre breaststroke, the 100 metre breaststroke, the 4×100 metre medley relay (with Daniil Pakhomov, Vladislav Kozlov and Filipp Shopin touching in 3:36.38) in a new world junior record and breaking the previous record held by Russia at 3:38.02 from the 2014 Youth Olympics, and the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay (with Daniil Pakhomov, Arina Openysheva and Maria Kameneva at a time of 3:49.53).

Chupkov appeared in his first senior Worlds at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, where he qualified in the 200 metre breaststroke final finishing in 7th place in a time of 2:09.96, after previously setting a world junior record in the semifinals in a time of 2:09.64.

Chupkov also competed at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Singapore; he won gold medals in two individual events, the 100 metre breaststroke (1:00.19) and the 200 metre breaststroke (2:10.19, a meet record), and finished 7th in the 50 metre breaststroke final.

In relay events, Chupkov competed in the 4×100 metre mixed medley (with Daniil Pakhomov, Irina Pridhoko and Arina Openysheva), where Russia set a new world junior record at 3:45.85, and in the 4×100 metre medley (with Daniil Pakhomov, Vladislav Kozlov, Roman Larin, finishing in 3:36.44), setting a new championships record.

He won the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In June 2016 as part of the Mare Nostrum stop in Canet-en-Roussillon, France, Chupkov broke the Russian record of 2:08.62 set in 2013 by Vyacheslav Sinkevich in the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:08.53.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Chupkov won his first Olympic medal, the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:07.70.

In the prelims heats of the 200 metre breaststroke, Chupkov set a new Russian record with a time of 2:07.93, which lowered the former record by over six-tenths of a second.

Chupkov swam a new Russian record of 2:07.70 in the final on 10 August to win the bronze medal, finishing after gold medalist Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan and silver medalist Josh Prenot of the United States.

He won the gold medal in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 2017 and 2019 World Aquatics Championships.

Chupkov trains at the Sports School of Olympic Reserve "Youth of Moscow" for swimming.

For the stop of the 2017 Mare Nostrum held in Barcelona, Spain, Chupkov set a new Russian record in the long course 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 59.39 seconds on 13 June.

On 18 June, at the stop in Canet-en-Roussillon, France, Chupkov lowered the Russian record in the 200 metre breaststroke to a 2:07.46.

In July 2017, at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Chupkov started his competition in the prelims heats of the 200 metre breaststroke where he qualified for the semifinals ranking first with a 2:08.23 on 27 July.

Following up his prelims heats performance in the evening semifinals, Chupkov set a new Championships record, European record, and Russian record in the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:07.14.

In the final of the 200 metre breaststroke the next day, 28 July, Chupkov won the gold medal in a time of 2:06.96, lowering the previous Championships, European, and Russian records he had set in the semifinals and finishing over three-tenths of a second ahead of silver medalist Yasuhiro Koseki of Japan and over half a second ahead of bronze medalist Ippei Watanabe of Japan.

On the final day of competition, 30 July, Chupkov won a bronze medal for his contributions as part of the 4×100 metre medley relay, splitting a 59.06 for the breaststroke leg of the relay in the prelims heats.

At the 2018 European Aquatics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, Chupkov won the bronze medal in the 100 metre breaststroke with a 59.06, finishing behind gold medalist Adam Peaty of Great Britain and silver medalist James Wilby of Great Britain.

In the 200 metre breaststroke, Chupkov won the gold medal with a time of 2:06.80 and set new Championships, European, and Russian records in the event.

For the 4×100 metre medley relay, Chupkov split a 1:00.40 on the breaststroke leg of the relay in the final to help win the silver medal in a time of 3:32.03.

Chupkov won the world title in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, marking the second time in a row he won the world title in the event after first winning the title in 2017.

In the prelims heats of the 200 metre breaststroke, he qualified for the semifinals ranking second behind first-ranked Matthew Wilson of Australia and ahead of third-ranked Marco Koch of Germany with a time of 2:08.22.

Later the same day Chupkov ranked second in the semifinals, swimming a time of 2:06.83.

In the final of the 200 metre breaststroke the following day, Chupkov won the gold medal and the world title in a new world record time of 2:06.12, which lowered the previous record of 2:06.67 by over half a second.

Chupkov won his second medal of the Championships in the 4×100 metre medley relay, where he won a bronze medal for his prelims efforts swimming the breaststroke leg of the relay in 58.90 seconds when the finals relay placed third in 3:28.81.

In the autumn of 2019 Chupkov was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League swimming for the Energy Standard Swim Club.

He won the 200 metre breaststroke at the matches held in Indianapolis, United States on 5 and 6 October and in London, United Kingdom on 23 and 24 November.