‘Cold frost and sunshine’: Yulia Efimova celebrates her return to Russia with bikini snap as she begins bid to make Olympic squad

Revered Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova has marked her return to Moscow following an 18-month absence from her home country ahead of the Olympic Games – and couldn't resist setting pulses racing with a new bikini shot,

The 28-year-old, who is preparing to perform in Tokyo this summer, has returned to participate in the national selection of athletes for the Olympic team.

Efimova hasn’t visited Russia since the pandemic began, suffering the effects of travel restrictions.

Upon arriving in Moscow, the world breaststroke champion posed in a bikini at the Chaika Sports Complex, an open-air swimming pool near the Kremlin.

“Cold frost and sunshine,” Efimova captioned the snap, citing a famous poem by Alexander Pushkin, the ‘Winter Morning.’

The athlete proudly demonstrated her toned body, triggering a chorus of complimentary comments from her followers.

The swimmer, who has six world titles to her name, has yet to win Olympic gold.

In 2016, Efimova risked missing the Olympic Games after the International Swimming Federation ruled that athletes with unclean doping records wouldn’t be allowed to participate.

The athlete succeeded in overturning that decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and was approved to take part in the competition just days before the swimming section began.