2022 World Para Swimming Championships: Americans Set World Record in Mixed Medley Relay
The American relay of Ellie Marks, Rudy Garcia-Tolson, Abbas Karimi and Leanne Smith set a world record at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships Tuesday, winning the 200 mixed medley relay 20 points.
The squad went 2:32.49 to win the race by more than 10 seconds over a crowd led by Italy and Spain. The same group had set an America’s record in the morning session at 2:36.05.
The gold medal is the third for Smith in three days in Madeira, Portugal. It capped a sensational final hour for the Americans. Gia Pergolini nabbed her second medal of the meet by winning the women’s S13 100 freestyle in 1:00.10, just edging out Japan’s Ayano Tsujiuchi by 0.43 seconds. Robert Griswold picked up his second gold in as many nights with a time of 1:02.43 in the men’s S8 100 butterfly. He outdueled Italy’s Alberto Amodeo by 0.99 seconds.
It brings the U.S. to second in the medal table with nine golds, trailing only the Italians.
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Italy’s performance at the third night of the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships was comparatively light, though that only speaks to how good they have been. Simone Barlaam set a competition record in winning the men’s S9 100 fly in 58.29 seconds, with teammate Federico Morlacchi third, and Stefano Raimondi picked up another gold in the men’s S10 400 free.
Spain and Colombia each joined the Americans with three gold medals on Night 3. Nelson Crispin Corzo added to his silver medal from Monday with gold in the SM6 men’s 200 individual medley. He set the meet record with a time of 2:41.16. Countryman Carlos Daniel Serrano Zarate won the SB7 100 breast in 1:11.62, holding off the African record set by Christian Sadie of South Africa. Colombia added a women’s gold via Laura Carolina Gonzalez Rodriguez in the S8 100 fly.
Spain’s Marta Fernandez Infante picked up three medals on her own. She won the SM4 150 IM, then set a meet record to win the S5 50 fly. (Sevilay Ozturk of Turkey earned her second silver medal in that event, while third was Brazil’s Joana Neves in an America’s record.) Fernandez Infante also picked up a bronze in the mixed medley relay.
Michelle Alonso Moralez also won gold in the women’s SB14 100 breast.
Ukraine continued a strong meet, with Anton Kol winning the men’s S1 100 back. He edged Italy’s Francesco Bettiella by just a half-second. Jose Ronaldo Da Silva set an America’s record to win bronze.
Kyrylo Garaschchenko brought home gold for Ukraine in the race of the day, the S13 men’s 100 free. He clocked in at 53.29, edging Muzaffar Tursunkhujaev of Uzbekistan by .04 seconds and France’s Alex Portal by .05 ticks. The top six finishers were separated by 0.69 seconds. Illia Yaremenko and Maksyum Veraksa added silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s S12 50 free for Ukraine.
Brazil added three more golds to its tally. In the men’s S2 100 back, Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos set a meet record in the S2 100 back at 1:57.69. Chile’s Alberto Caroly Abarza Diaz earned silver. Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago won the women’s S12 50 free in a meet record of 26.86. Her fellow Brazilian Lucilene Da Silva Sousa earned bronze behind Britain’s Hannah Russell. Samuel Da Silva de Oliveira won the men’s S5 50 fly.
Several countries picked up their first golds of the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships on Night 3. Singapore’s Yip Pin Xiu claimed her first world title since 2010 by winning the S2 100 back, an event she won at the Tokyo Paralympics. Her time of 2:15.16 set a meet record and was 18 seconds quicker than the America’s record used by Mexico’s Fabiola Ramirez Martinez to win silver.
Israel’s Ami Omer Dadaon won the SM4 men’s 150 IM ahead of Austrian Andreas Ernhofer. Triple Tokyo gold medalist Raman Salei got his first win of Worlds in the S12 men’s 50 free in 24.18, just edging Yaremenko by .02 seconds.
Second gold medals arrived Tuesday for Zsofia Konkoly, Rogier Dorsman and Karolina Pelendritou. Konkoly won the S9 women’s 100 fly. (Her fellow Hungarian Bianka Pap won the S10 400 free, with Csenge Hotz in bronze position.) The Dutchman Dorsman bested the field in the SB11 100 breast, winning a duel with butterfly winner Keiichi Kimura of Japan. The Cypriot star Pelendritou set a meet record in the SB 100 breast with a time of 1:21.01. It was seven seconds clear of silver medalist Nadia Baez’s Americas record.
Canada’s Tess Routliffe set a national record by winning the SB7 100 breast in 1:31.91. She outkicked Nikta Howarth of New Zealand by a second and a half.
Naohide Yamaguchi set a meet mark in the men’s SB14 100 breast at 1:04.46. He needed that to outlast Australia’s Jake Michel by 0.56 seconds.
Great Britain’s Maisie Summers-Newton won the SM6 200 IM in a 1-2 finish with Grace Harvey.