Vitali SOROKIN

Vitaly Sorokin was selected to the Soviet national team in 1955 and his best international tournament was the 1956 Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in the 4x200 free relay. Just a month before the Olympics, Sorokin had helped the Soviet team set a 4x200 free relay world record of 8:24.5. They went to the Olympics as one of the favorites for gold, but at the Olympics settled for third place behind Australia (who broke the world record), and the United States, with a time 10 seconds slower than the world record they had set a month earlier. Sorokin competed in two more major international meets, at the 1958 European Championships and the 1960 Olympics, but did not medal. Domestically, as one of the top short distance freestyle swimmers of the country, Sorokin was the Soviet 100 freestyle champion in 1957 and 1958, 4x100 free relay champion in 1956, 4x200 free relay champion in 1959 and 4x100 m medley relay champion in 1957 and 1958. He also won eight silvers (100 freestyle: 1955-56, 1959-60; 400 freestyle: 1957, 1959; 4x200 free relay: 1960-61) and six bronzes (100 freestyle: 1961; 400 freestyle: 1956, 1958, 1960; 4x200 free relay: 1955 and 1957) at the Soviet championships. After finishing his sporting career, Sorokin worked as a swimming coach in his home town of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). His most famous pupil was the 1964 Olympic 200 m breaststroke champion Halyna Prozumenshchykova-Stepanova. Since 2004 a memorial tournament in his honor has been held in St. Petersburg.

Personal Best: 100 m freestyle – 56.4 (1958); 200 m freestyle – 2:05.9 (1956); 400 m freestyle – 4:34.0 (1956).