Who is Anastasia Gorbenko? All you need to know about the Israeli star swimmer

One swimmer who has grabbed the headlines at the 2023 Mare Nostrum Monaco is Anastasia Gorbenko.

The 2023 Mare Nostrum Monaco was held at the Prince Albert II Swimming Pool in Stade Louis II, Monaco, from May 20 to May 21. In this competitive swim meet, Anastasia Gorbenko broke her own record in the women's 200m individual medley event.

But who is this star Israeli swimmer?

Anastasia Gorbenko was born on August 7, 2003 in Haifa, Israel, according to allfamousbirthday.com. Though she was born in Haifa, Anastasia moved to Kiryat Bialik with her family as per The Jerusalem Post.

The Israeli swimmer is the daughter of Vladimir, a computer expert, and Larissa, a special education teacher, according to Israel Olympics. Her father is said to be a former swimmer and volleyball player in Ukraine.

Gorbenko joined artistic gymnastics at the age of four. A few years late, she joined in swimming class as well and developed an immediate liking toward the sport. When the situation arose for her to make a choice between artistic gymnastics and swimming, Anastasia chose swimming, as per the above-mentioned source.

At the age of 15, she joined Academy of Excellence at the Wingate Institute to train for swimming. Gorbenko competed in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. She won the gold medal in the 200m individual medley event.

Gorbenko's gold medal in the 200m IM was Israel's first gold medal in swimming at the elite level of international competition. She then went on to represent Israel at the Tokyo Olympics.

At the Tokyo Olympics, the Israeli swimmer competed in five events. Her most notable finishes is when she finished in eighth place in the finals of the 100m backstroke event. In the semifinals of the 200m individual medley event, Anastasia finished in 10th place.

Gorbenko has also won gold medals in the 200m individual medley event at the 2020 European Championships (LC) in Budapest and 2020 European Championships (SC) in Kazan.

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Anastasia Gorbenko breaks own record at 2023 Mare Nostrum Monaco

Anastasia surpassed her own record in the 200m IM event at the 2023 Mare Nostrum Monaco when she clocked a time of 2:09.28. Swimming in the finals of the 200m IM, she completed the first 50 with a time of 27.58.

She was always ahead for her own record throughout the finals of the 200m IM. Earlier this week, she clocked a time of 2:09.47 in the 200m IM to break her own record, which stood for two years.

Her previous best was 2:09.99, when she swam in the 2020 European Championships (LC) in Budapest.

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Anastasia Gorbenko moves to sixth place in 200m IM world rankings

Anastasia Gorbenko moved to sixth place from eighth in the women's 200m IM event rankings for the 2022-23 season, according to SwimSwam. The top six in the women's 200m IM for the 2022-23 season as revealed by the above-mentioned source is attached below.

1. Summer McIntosh, 2:06.89 (Canada)
2. Kaylee McKeown, 2:07.19 (Australia)
3. Yu Yiting, 2:08.34 (China)
4. Sydney Pickrem, 2:08.61 (Canada)
5. Marrit Steenbergen, 2:09.16 (Netherlands)
6. Anastasia Gorbenko, 2:09.28 (Israel)

Gorbenko's constant improvements in her performances indicate that Israel has found its own star swimmer.