Estonian swimming star Eneli Jefimova: The US training regime suits me well
Estonian swimming star Eneli Jefimova, who achieved excellent results in the first stage of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup, is adapting well to university life in the United States.
In an interview with ERR, Jefimova said she will not participate in the next stages of the World Cup, but definitely plans to compete in the European Short Course Championships in Lublin, Poland in early December.
Jefimova, who began her studies at the University of North Carolina in August, had the opportunity to compete in the first stage of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup as it fit well with her school's competition calendar. The Estonian was delighted with her results, having achieved close to her personal bests in all three breaststroke distances – Jefimova won the 50-meter final and came second in the 100-meter final behind Kate Douglass of the USA.
"I would give myself a grade of 4+ (out of 5 – ed.). It would have been a 5 if I had broken some personal records, but actually, swimming so close to my personal records at this stage of the season is a really good sign," Jefimova told ERR.
"When I came here, I had been out of the water for three weeks. We started from scratch, but at the same time, we can't forget the previous work I did at home with [former coach] Henry [Hein] for several years. I can definitely say that these U.S. training sessions suit me, as I'm already showing these kinds of results in the middle of the season. We're moving in the right direction," she added.
Jefimova will not be competing in any more World Cup events this fall.
"I won't be able to compete in the next World Cup stage because we are going to a U.S. university competition this week. Maybe it would be possible to go to the third World Cup stage, but then there might be too many competitions at once. So we decided that this one World Cup stage is enough."
Having lived in the U.S. for just a few months, Jefimova admits that it was tough adapting at first. Now, however, she has got used to the faster pace of life and more intense training regime.
"It was a pretty big change in my life. Now, I've got much more used to everything. I know more or less where everything is, so I can get around town without Google Maps, so things are much easier now," said Jefimova.
Among her considerable achievements so far in the sport, Jefimova made history in 2024 by winning Estonia's first ever senior European Aquatics Championship gold in Belgrade at the age of 17.
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Editor: Michael Cole, Henrik Laever
