INDIANAPOLIS – On the first day of the World Para Swimming World Series, U.S. athletes claimed 15 victories at the Indiana University Natatorium. Athletes from across the world are competing in Indianapolis for the fourth stop of the world series circuit.
In the first-ever world series tour that includes a stop on U.S. soil, medalists from the Paralympic Games Rio 2016 continued their success. McKenzie Coan (Clarkesville, Georgia) and Rebecca Meyers (Timonium, Maryland) won the S7 and S13 classes in the 400 free, while Tharon Drake (Hobbs, New Mexico) placed first in the SB11 100 breast.
In the women’s 100 breast, Sophia Herzog (Fairplay, Colorado/SB6), Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs, Colorado/SB7), Laura Dennison (Boston, Massachusetts/SB5) and Letticia Martinez (Las Cruces, New Mexico/SB11) each won their classes.
To conclude the evening, two U.S. relays recorded first-place finishes. The men’s team included Robert Griswold (Freehold, New Jersey), Zachary Shattuck (Mt. Airy, Maryland), David Gelfand (Weston, Connecticut) and Tye Dutcher (Merced, California), while the women’s team consisted of Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, North Carolina), Elizabeth Marks, Elizabeth Smith (Muncie, Indiana) and Michelle Konkoly (Eagleville, Pennsylvania).
The World Para Swimming World Series event continues through Sunday, with preliminary rounds beginning at 9 a.m. ET, followed by finals at 5 p.m. All sessions are open and free to the public.
QUOTES
McKenzie Coan
“This is my first Paralympic meet back since the Games. My goals coming here, I wanted to have solid swims and be feeling good in the water while still at high-level training, but it gives me a lot of confidence going into this summer being able to go out there knowing how many yards I’ve already done this week and still pull out solid swims. Helps build confidence going into this summer.”
Tharon Drake
“Today was awesome. I had surgery about three months ago so I’ve been recovering from that. Right now, instead of going for best times and taking chances, we’re just taking our time and doing some great stuff. Huge progress tonight. Great to see Team USA do as well as they did tonight. I’m proud of my teammates dropping time and having fun doing it.
RESULTS
Competition will resume Saturday with 50 and 100 backstroke, 150 and 200 individual medley, and 50 free. Full results of each session can be found here.
Press release courtesy of U.S. Paralympics.
Congratulations
It’s a pity our Caribbean paralymian swimmers have fallen off the international radar since the 1980 ‘s. Gone are the days when we medalled at the Paralympics!