Vladimir Viktorovich Morozov (; born 16 June 1992) is a retired Russian competitive swimmer and Olympic medalist. He is the former world record holder in the short course 100-metre individual medley, the current, World Cup record and Russian national record holder in the 100-metre individual medley and 100-metre freestyle (short course), and Russian record holder in the 50-metre freestyle (short course and long course). He also holds the European record for the 100-metre individual medley. Formerly he held the Russian national record in the 50-metre backstroke (long course) and the 50-metre butterfly (short course), and held the European and Russian records in the 50-metre breaststroke (short course).

In 2013, Morozov became the first person to swim faster than 18.00 seconds for 50 yards of freestyle on a relay in the NCAA with a time of 17.86 seconds. Over the course of his career, he has won 176 medals, including 123 gold medals, at Swimming World Cup circuits.

Background Morozov was born 16 June 1992 in Russia, and emigrated to the United States as a 14-year-old. His parents divorced when he was one year old. As of 2018 he had not met his father. When he was nine years old, Morozov began his competitive swimming career."Vladimir Morozov: Profile". FINA. Retrieved 12 February 2022. He won the first medal of his swimming career, a bronze medal, in the 200 metre backstroke when he was in the 9 to 10 year old age group, and one of the sports he has participated in outside of swimming is Olympic weightlifting.Berg, Aimee (29 October 2018). "Getting to know: Vladimir Morozov (RUS)". FINA. Retrieved 12 February 2022. Once arriving in the United States, he attended Torrance High School in Torrance, California, graduating in 2010.

As a student at the University of Southern California, Morozov started competing collegiately and studying economics in pursuit of an undergraduate degree in 2010."USC Bio: Morozov". USC Trojans. Retrieved 12 February 2022. In 2013, he left the University of Southern California to become a professional swimmer without graduating with his degree and in 2018 he expressed he was still interested in one day finishing his degree.

In November 2021, Morozov got married. His wife is Evgeniia Bulatova (Morozova), a PR Manager and model in Los Angeles. They met at the University of Southern California in 2018, where she was getting a B.A. degree and Vladimir kept training in a team with Dave Salo.

Career

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, Morozov was as a member of the Russian 4x100-metre freestyle relay team, that placed third behind the relay teams from France and the United States and won the bronze medal in the event. Swimming the third leg of the relay, Morozov split a time of 47.85 seconds to help the relay finish in 3:11.41.

2012 World and European Championships Following the Olympics, Morozov competed at the 2012 European Short Course Championships and the 2012 World Short Course Championships held at the end of 2012. At the European Championships in Chartres, France, Morozov won seven medals including individual titles in the 100-metre freestyle and 100-metre individual medley. At the World Championships in Istanbul, Morozov won gold medals in the 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle, and a silver medal in the 4x100-metre medley relay. In the 50-metre freestyle, Morozov defeated 2012 Olympic champion in the event, Florent Manaudou of France, as well as Anthony Ervin of the United States, and set the national record with a time of 20.55 seconds.FINA (14 December 2012). "11th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m): Men's 50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 11 October 2021.Race, Retta (6 August 2017). "FINA World Cup Berlin: Morozov Fastest Russian 100 SCM Freestyler Ever". SwimSwam. Retrieved 11 October 2021.

2013 NCAA and Championships In March 2013, as a college junior, third year, and 20-year-old swimming for Coach Dave Salo at University of Southern California, Morozov won the NCAA Division I Championships title in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle. Also as part of the 2013 NCAA Championships, Morozov split a 17.86 on a freestyle leg of a relay and became the first person to swim 50 yards of freestyle in less than 18.00 seconds on a relay in the history of the NCAA.Klein, Gary (30 March 2013). "Vladimir Morozov making his mark for USC swimming". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 February 2022."Vlad Morozov Bio". SwimSwam. Retrieved 15 February 2022. Following the end of his junior year, Morozov became a professional swimmer and stopped competing collegiately.

Fresh off his success at the NCAA Championships, Morozov competed at the 2013 Russian National Championships, breaking the Russian record in the long course 50-metre backstroke with a time of 24.80 seconds."Morozov Puts Up First 47 Of The Year At Russian Nationals". SwimSwam. 20 April 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2021."Vlad Morozov, Vyacheslav Sinkevich Down Russian Records in Kazan". Swimming World. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2021. Later in the year at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, he set a new Russian national record in the long course 50-metre freestyle with a time of 21.47 seconds and earned the silver medal in the event, finishing less than two tenths of a second behind César Cielo.FINA (3 August 2013). "15th FINA World Championships Barcelona (ESP): Men's 50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 11 October 2021.Sutherland, James (14 April 2017). "Morozov Vaults To #1 In The World With 21.4 Russian Record In 50 Free". SwimSwam. Retrieved 11 October 2021.

2014 The following year, at the 2014 Russian National Championships, Morozov lowered his national record in the 50-metre backstroke to a 24.52, dropping almost three tenths of a second off from his previous record and best time of 24.80 seconds.Marsteller, Jason (16 May 2014). "Sizzling Siberian Vlad Morozov Slashes Russian Standard in 50 Back, Popova, Nasretdinova Post Russian Marks of Their Own". Swimming World. Retrieved 11 October 2021.

2016 Summer Olympics

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Morozov did not qualify for the final in either of his individuals events, the 50-metre freestyle and the 100-metre freestyle, finishing 9th and 10th respectively."2016 Summer Olympics - Athletes: Vladimir Morozov". ESPN. 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2022. Morozov also competed on the Russian 4×100-metre freestyle relay, splitting a time of 47.31 for the third leg of the relay in the final and helping the relay team place fourth in 3:11.64. In the final of the 4×100-metre medley relay Morozov contributed to the Russia relay team finishing in a time of 3:31.30 to place fourth.

2016 Swimming World Cup Starting out at the first short course 2016 FINA Swimming World Cup stop in Chartres, France, Morozov broke the world record in the 100-metre individual medley set at 50.66 by Markus Deibler of Germany in 2014 with his time of 50.60 seconds.FINA (26 August 2016). "FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup 2016 Paris-Chartres: Men's 100m Individual Medley Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 11 October 2021.Brien, Taylor (26 August 2016). "Vladimir Morozov Edges Past 100 IM World Record At 2016 FINA World Cup Paris". Swimming World. Retrieved 11 October 2021. Later on in the World Cup circuit, four days later at the stop in Berlin, Germany, Morozov broke his own world record with a time of 50.30 seconds in the 100-metre individual medley.FINA (30 August 2016). "FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup 2016 Berlin: Men's 100m Individual Medley Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 11 October 2021.Sick, Hans-Peter (30 August 2016). "SWC 2016: Morozov bettered again 100m IM World Record in Berlin on Day 1". FINA. Retrieved 11 October 2021.

2016 World Short Course Championships

On the first day of competition at the 2016 World Short Course Championships in Windsor, Canada, Morozov won a gold medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay with a final relay time of 3:05.90, swimming the fastest split out of all 32 swimmers in the final with a 45.42 for the third leg of the relay.FINA (6 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 4x100m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022. The second day, he won the silver medal in the 100-metre breaststroke with a 57.00, finishing 0.23 seconds behind first-place finisher Marco Koch of Germany and 0.04 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Fabio Scozzoli of Italy.FINA (7 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 100m Breaststroke Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022. Later in the same finals session, he split a 20.44 for the second leg of the 4×50-metre mixed freestyle relay to help win the gold medal in 1:29.73.FINA (7 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022. In the final of the 4×50-metre freestyle relay on day four, Morozov swam a 20.71 for the anchor leg to help win the gold medal with a time of 1:24.32 and was only out-split amongst relay anchor leg swimmers by Tom Shields of the United States who split a 20.58.FINA (9 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 4x50m Freestyle Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022. Approximately 15 minutes later, Morozov placed sixth in the final of the 100-metre individual medley with a 52.83, which was 0.99 seconds slower than the gold medalist in the event Michael Andrew of the United States.FINA (9 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 100m Individual Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022. Less than an hour later, Morozov earned his second silver medal in an individual event at the Championships, this time finishing second in the 50-metre freestyle at 21.14 seconds, which was 0.04 seconds behind first-place finisher Jesse Puts of the Netherlands.FINA (9 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 50m Freestyle Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022.

In the morning of day five, Morozov placed 18th in the prelims heats of the 100-metre freestyle with a 47.82 and did not advance to the semifinals stage of competition.FINA (10 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 100m Freestyle Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022. For the day's finals sessions, he won a gold medal in the 4×50-metre medley relay swimming the fastest freestyle leg out of all the finals relays with a time of 20.46 to help achieve the final time of 1:31.52.FINA (10 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 4x50m Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022. On the sixth and final day of competition, Morozov was the only swimmer to split faster than 46.00 seconds for the freestyle leg of the 4×100-metre medley relay, splitting a 45.58, and helped achieved a gold medal win in a time of 3:21.17.FINA (11 December 2016). "13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Windsor (CAN): Men's 4x100m Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 12 February 2022.

2017 Championships and World Cup