Six world records fell on Saturday night at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London as the final day will conclude on Sunday. Wang Lichao, Dai Tokairin, Brock Whiston, Roman Zhdanov and Jiang Yuyan were among the record breakers from night five as the Ukrainian 4×100 free relay closed the night with the sixth record.
Mexico’s Diego Lopez Diaz won two gold medals in the SM3 150 IM and S3 50 free.
Men’s 100 Breast
Italy’s Stefano Raimondi won the SB9 100 breast final for the first gold medal of the day in London. He won with a 1:05.58, some three seconds ahead of Canada’s James Leroux (1:08.56), who broke the Americas record with the silver medal. Russia’s Dmitrii Bartasinskii (1:09.66) won the bronze medal.
Women’s 100 Breast
Chantalle Zijderveld went 1-2 with fellow Dutch teammate Lisa Kruger in the SB9 100 breast final as Zijderveld broke the championship record with a 1:12.55. Kruger was second with a 1:15.26 while Argentina’s Daniela Gimenez won the bronze with a 1:18.69. Zijderveld just missed her own world record of 1:12.42 from last year.
Men’s 100 Fly
Ihar Boki of Belarus won yet another gold with a 53.95 in the S13 100 fly final as he broke the championship record. Boki just missed his own world record of 53.85 from the 2016 Paralympics as he won his fifth gold medal of the championships. Uzbekistan’s Islam Aslanov (55.99) broke the Asian record with the silver medal as Oleksii Virchenko (57.38) of the Ukraine won the bronze.
Japan went 1-2 in the S11 100 fly final as Keiichi Kimura (1:02.22) broke the championship record, going 1-2 with Uchu Tomita (1:03.64). Russia’s Kirill Belousov (1:04.30) won the bronze medal.
Women’s 100 Fly
Shokhsanamkhon Toshpulatova of Uzkbekistan won the S13 100 fly final with a 1:03.89 as she broke the Asian record, just holding off Carlotta Gilli (1:03.95) of Italy. USA’s Becca Meyers, competing in the S12 classification, won the bronze with a 1:04.41.
Men’s 150 IM
Diego Lopez of Mexico won the SM3 150 IM title with a 2:57.61 as he won by four seconds over Ahmed Kelly (3:01.17) of Australia, who broke the Oceania record for the silver medal. Australia won two medals in the event as Grant Patterson (3:05.92) won the bronze medal.
Speaking post-race, Kelly said he was thrilled to win his first world championship medal.
“It feels great to finally get an international benchmark medal – I’ve worked so hard to get there, a little disappointed I didn’t hit my PB, but I gave it my best shot,” he said.
“I could feel the emotions from the crowd in how close the race was and no matter how much I was hurting – which I was – I was just trying to push through it to the end as best I could.”
Reiterating Kelly’s sentiments, Patterson – who also picked up a silver medal on night one – added that it’s always wonderful to race against Kelly on the world stage.
“How often do you get to see two best mates race somewhere overseas at an international competition in a final – I think that’s pretty cool,” he exclaimed.
“That’s all I wanted in this race was to stand on the podium with him, I didn’t care what colour, and just do Australia proud.”
Men’s 50 Back
China’s Wang Lichao broke his second world record of the World Para Championships as he smashed the S5 50 back world record with a 32.59. Wang took two full seconds off the old world record that he set earlier this year at 34.60. Wang blew away the field as the Ukraine’s Yaroslav Semenenko (34.72) broke the European record (34.72) with the silver medal. Brazil’s Daniel Dias (36.11) won the bronze medal.
Wang previously broke the world record this week in the 50 fly.
Women’s 50 Back
The women’s S5 50 back final was much quicker as Spain’s Teresa Perales won the final with a 44.71 by just 0.03 over Sumeyye Boyaci (44.74) of Turkey. Italy’s Monica Boggioni (45.30) won the bronze medal.
Men’s 200 IM
Japan’s Dai Tokairin broke the SM14 200 IM final with a new world record at 2:08.16, lowering the old record of 2:08.98 set in 2015 by the Russian Viacheslav Emeliantsev. In fact, second place finisher Reece Dunn of Great Britain also was under the old world record with a 2:08.70 for the silver medal. Dunn’s silver adds on to the gold medal he won in the 200 free earlier in the week. Vasil Krainyk (2:10.42) of the Ukraine won the bronze medal.
Despite missing out on the gold, Dunn was pleased with his performance and said:
“I’m very pleased. OK, a little disappointed that I was pipped for first but I’m happy, especially with getting the new European Record. It’s my weakest event and probably only the second meet in ten years I’ve raced it, the first being in April to secure my qualification.”
“I can go away from here with plenty of things to work on, especially my breaststroke technique for the 200m IM, but overall I’ve enjoyed myself at my first major International meet and in terms of results I couldn’t be more pleased.”
USA’s Robert Griswold broke the American record in winning the SM8 200 IM with a 2:22.72. This is Griswold’s second gold medal and fourth overall medal this week in London as he won ahead of China’s Yang Guanglong (2:25.20) and Australia’s Jesse Aungles (2:27.45).
Griswold was originally disqualified shortly after. Team USA successfully protested the disqualification and the initial result was reinstated. Griswold leaves London with two gold medals and one silver medal.
“I’m feeling elated and relieved,” Griswold said. “We had an interesting situation but we let the officials figure it out, let the teams figure it out and let the process work. It was hard on everyone who was in that race to not know what the result was. I’m just happy to have that resolved and be able to finish these world championships really strong. I’m just really happy to be here. I’m really thankful for this being such a great world championships and everyone who has come together to put this together. It’s been absolutely amazing.”
“From one to two, it’s fantastic – it’s been a really good meet and I’ve really enjoyed it,” Aungles said.
“At Para Pan Pacs last year I was feeling really good and compared to that preparation it’s been nothing like it, so I was a bit worried coming in here, but I’ve had some really good technical changes that are going fantastically well, and I think that really helped get me through. I’m so close to that PB I think I’ll be able to work on it heading into next year.”
Andrei Kalina of Russia won the SM9 200 IM final with a 2:16.67 as he won ahead of Italy’s Federico Morlacchi (2:17.66). Australia’s Timothy Hodge (2:17.68) finished with the bronze medal despite leading for a good portion of the race.
Women’s 200 IM
Russia’s Valeriia Shabalina almost broke the third world record of the night at the World Para Swimming Championships in London but she just missed her own record in the SM14 200 IM final with a 2:18.78 for the gold. Shabalina still broke the championship record as she missed the world record of 2:18.37 that she set in 2016. Shabalina finished ahead of a trio of Brits with Bethany Firth (2:23.04) winning the silver and Louise Fiddes (2:26.05) winning the bronze. Jessica Applegate (2:26.91) was locked out in fourth.
Firth said of her race:
“I’m so happy with that swim. It was a tough swim and after this morning my injury is starting to come back so I was just really happy to get in and race the final and come away with a silver medal.”
Fiddes was also pleased with her medal and said:
“I could see Jess in the corner of my eye and that gave me motivation to get to the wall. It was extremely painful but it makes all the training worth it.”
Great Britain’s Brock Whiston broke the third world record of the night with a 2:35.30 in the SM8 200 IM as she took down Jessica Long’s world record of 2:36.00 from 2012. Whiston gave the British crowd something to cheer for when she touched first ahead of Long, who got the silver at 2:40.26. Russia’s Viktoriia Ishchiulova won the bronze at 2:45.17 as she is only 14 years old.
Notably, Alice Tai finished in fourth at 2:51.04 as she has won six gold medals this week.
Whiston said of her incredible performance:
“It’s Incredible. To race Jess and Alice, they’re two of the best S8s in the world, so to come away with gold against those two is just incredible. The World Record bit hasn’t quite sunk in yet. Jess’ World Record is incredible and to now hold it, I couldn’t ask for anything more from my first individual event at the World Champs.”
Speaking about having to wait to day six before her individual events got started, Whiston said:
“Waiting for my events is all part of sport and I’ve been able to cheer my teammates on. I wouldn’t be in this position if I didn’t have a team behind me and now they’re up there cheering me. That’s why the GB team is so great.
Spain went 1-2 in the SM9 200 IM with Nuria Marques (2:34.51) and Sarai Gascon (2:36.60) winning gold and silver. Great Britain’s Toni Shaw (2:36.93) won the bronze medal for her fifth medal of the meet.
“It’s crazy,” Shaw said. “I definitely wasn’t going into this meet with the focus of a medal in the Individual Medley so I’m really pleased. It’s great my family are here to see it; my parents and my coach have given me great support.”
Men’s 200 Free
The world records kept coming as Russia’s Roman Zhdanov smashed the S4 200 free world record with a 2:53.06, lowering the record by almost three full seconds from the 2:55.81 that Richard Oribe set in 2008. Zhdanov was pushed to the world record by Japan’s Takayuki Suzuki (2:53.22), who was also well under the world record. Israel’s Ami Omer Dadaon (2:59.55) won the bronze medal.
New Zealand’s Cameron Leslie (3:00.79) broke the Oceania record in finishing fourth.
Men’s 100 Free
Carlos Serrano of Colombia won his third gold medal of the championships with a new championship record in the S7 100 free final. Serrano won by just 0.09 over Bohdan Hrynenko (1:01.58) of the Ukraine. His teammate Andrii Trusov (1:01.76) won the bronze medal.
Women’s 100 Free
McKenzie Coan of the United States dominated the S7 100 free with a 1:08.83 as she got within eight tenths of the world record set by Jacqueline Freney in 2012. Coan won by nearly four seconds over Denise Grahl of Germany (1:12.10) and Italy’s Giulia Terzi (1:12.33).
“I can’t even describe what I’m feeling,” Coan said. “Right before we dove in, I thought about how much I wanted that and how much I’ve been chasing to get under that 1:09 since Rio. I dove in and everything came together. That’s what we train for right there, day in and day out. That right there, and it happened. I’m really happy.”
Men’s 50 Fly
China’s Wang Jingang won the S6 50 fly final in a tight finish over France’s Laurent Chardard and Colombia’s Nelson Crispin. Wang won the tight race with a 31.32 while Chardad broke the European record for second at 31.41. Crispin finished in third at 31.43.
Women’s 50 Fly
China’s Jiang Yuyan broke the fifth world record of the night with a 34.86 in the S6 50 fly final as she lowered the old world record of 35.22 set by Eleanor Robinson in 2018. Jiang is just 14-years-old and also took down Robinson in the race as the Brit won the silver with a 35.61, right on her old world record. Ireland’s Nicole Turner (36.42) won the bronze medal.
Despite her disappointment on missing out on the gold, Robinson was already looking ahead and said:
“I knew it was going to be tough against a new Chinese girl who is doing really, really well. I need to use this as motivation as she’s not too far in front of me and hopefully I can really push myself that bit more in training.”
“This was always going to be close and difficult but I didn’t know she would go a 34. Now I’ve got to make sure I put myself in the best place for Tokyo, so when we stand on the blocks no one knows who is going to win.”
Men’s 50 Free
Mexico’s Diego Lopez won his second gold medal of the night with a 43.51 in the S3 50 free final as he won by two seconds over China’s Zou Liankang (45.40) and Denys Ostapchenko (46.09).
Men’s 100 Back
Maksym Krypak of the Ukraine won his fifth gold medal of the World Para Swimming Championships with a new championship record in the S10 100 back final. Krypak swam a 58.00 as he was the only swimmer to break a minute in the final. Italy got two on the podium with Stefano Raimondi (1:00.11) and Riccardo Menciotti (1:00.78) winning the silver and bronze.
Women’s 100 Back
Lisa Kruger of the Netherlands won the S10 100 back final by 0.01 with a 1:09.22 as she won the gold over Bianka Kap (1:09.23) of Hungary. Canada’s Aurelie Rivard (1:10.69) won the bronze medal for her fourth medal of the week.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw I got bronze. This is crazy. I rarely practice the 100 back. To be honest, I was kind of hoping for fourth, I would have been ok with that,” said Rivard, who trains with Leroux at CHP-Quebec in Montreal and who set her PB of 1:09.62 in the event at Rio 2016. “It definitely motivates me to put a little more time into it. My time from Rio would have been very close to second place tonight.
“For sure, 13 career medals at worlds is impressive. I never would have thought I’d get there. The thing I’m most happy about though is that after 10 years, I’m still this competitive, and I’m even able to claim a medal in a new event.”
Mixed 4×100 Free Relay
The Ukraine broke the sixth world record on Saturday at the World Para Swimming Championships as Maryna Piddubna (1:08.25), Kyrylo Garashchenko (52.20), Anna Stetsenko (59.65) and Yaroslav Denysenko (51.75) combined to swim a 3:51.85. They lowered their own world record of 3:54.70 set last year as Brazil (3:53.17) got second and Russia (3:54.09) got third.