A 38-Year-Old World Record Nearly Falls to End IPC World Swimming Champs

MONTREAL, Canada, August 18. THE Ukraine completed its impressive domination of the International Paralympic Committee’s world swimming championships today with just two more gold medals, and the team returns home with 84 total medals from the seven-day meet.

Men’s 200 individual medley, SM7
Australia’s Matthew Levy won his first individual gold medal of the meet with a 2:39.14 in the 200 IM. Wang Jingang of China was second with a 2:45.99 and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Komarov placed third with a 2:52.79.

Women’s 200 individual medley, SM7
Oceania swept the gold medals in the SM7 division of the 200 IM, with New Zealand’s Nikita Howarth taking the gold medal with a 3:02.70. Brianna Nelson of Canada took silver with a 3:03.04 and American Cortney Jordan finished third with a 3:10.31.

Men’s 100 backstroke, S9
In the second men’s event of the finals session, Australia picked up second gold medal on the night with a win by Matthew Cowdrey, who posted a 1:03.23 in a close race with Great Britain’s James Crisp, who put up a 1:03.83. Laurence McGivern was third with a 1:04.75.

Women’s 100 backstroke, S9
Great Britain’s Stephanie Millward took gold with a 1:10.56, while teammate Amy Marren won the silver medal with a 1:10.98. Elizabeth Smith of the United States celebrated a bronze medal-swim with a 1:15.91.

Men’s 100 freestyle, S6
Crispin Nelson of Colombia picked up his second gold of the meet with a 1:10.01 to edge out Brazil’s Talisson Glock, who posted a 1:10.51. In third was Matthew Haanappel of Australia with a 1:11.40.

Women’s 100 freestyle, S7
A scoreboard malfunction prevented this event from producing official times, but Great Britain’s Ellie Simmonds was the clear winner, with meet officials giving silver to Italy’s Emanuela Romano and bronze to Germany’s Tanja Groepper.

Men’s 50 breaststroke, SB3
Japan’s Takyuki Suzuki, the world record with a 48.49, placed first with a 49.87. Miguel Luque of Spain nearly broke 50 seconds with a runner-up time of 50.22, while Michael Schoenmaker of the Netherlands was third with a 50.70.

Men’s 50 freestyle, S10
Andre Brasil notched gold medal number two for the meet with a 23.37 to lead a Brazilian 1-2 in the event, just 21-hundredths of a second off his world record. Phelipe Rodrigues collected silver with a 23.89 while American Ian Silverman was third with a 24.52.

Women’s 50 freestyle, S10
Sophie Pascoe collected yet another world record and gold medal, touching with a 27.78 to take three tenths off her own world mark. France’s Elodie Lorandi posted a European record of 28.35 for second place, while Canada’s Aurelie Rivard took third with a 28.87.

Men’s 50 freestyle, S8
Russia went 1-2 in this event and celebrated a world record, as Denis Tarasov took gold with a 25.81 and shaved .01 off his own world record. Konstantin Lisenkov was second with a 26.71 and Charles Rozoy of France placed third with a 27.72.

Women’s 50 freestyle, S8
Maddison Elliott of Australia nearly had the crowd celebrating a third-straight world record, but missed her own mark of 30.28 in the 50 free with a winning time of 30.31. She won convincingly, with Morgan Bird of Canada taking second with a 31.73 and Kateryna Istomina third with a 31.75.

Men’s 50 freestyle, S5
Daniel Dias of Brazil collected an amazing sixth gold medal — and eighth overall — in Montreal with a decisive win in the splash-and-dash event. Dias’ 32.41 was off his world record of 32.05, but was good enough to beat American Roy Perkins, who posted a 33.17, while Sebastian Rodriguez of Spain was third with a 33.75.

Women’s 50 freestyle, S5
Ukraine’s first gold medal of the night came at the hands of Viktoriia Savtsova with a 35.89 in the sprint event. She missed the world record jointly held by Teresa Perales and Nataliia Prologaieva by one hundredth of a second. Perales swam her 35.88 in 1975, while Prologaieva posted her time in 1981, making this one of the longest-standing world records in swimming. Prologaieva, also of Ukraine, celebrated not only the continued existence of her world record, but a silver medal with a 36.53, while Brazilian Joana Silva collected the bronze with a 39.31.

Men’s 50 butterfly, S3
The Ukraine continued its celebration with a world record by Dmytro Vynohradets in a time of 55.78 to break his own mark of 56.94. Only four swimmers contested the race, and with Ales Secnik of Slovakia drawing a disqualification, each swimmer got hardware. Mikael Frederiksson of Sweden took silver with a 1:03.15 and Ioannis Kostakis was the bronze medalist with a 1:03.45.

Women’s 50 butterfly, S3
Patricia Valle of Mexico, the world record in the event with a 56.00, won tonight with a 57.95. Alexandra Agafonova of Russia swam a 1:09.01 for second, and Vera Thamm of Germany was third with a 1:12.81.

Men’s 200 individual medley, SM14
Marc Evers of the Netherlands took his third gold medal of the meet with a winning time of 2:12.37. Two teammates fought for the silver medal, with Great Britain’s Daniel Pepper posting a 2:18.30 to Ben Procter’s 2:18.43.

Women’s 200 individual medley, SM14
Another win for the Dutch came when Marlou van der Kluk posted a 2:30.77, with Jessica-Jane Applegate of Great Britain taking second with a 2:32.54, just beating out teammate Chloe Davies, who swam a 2:32.83 and locking out Australia’s Kayla Clarke’s 2:32.99 for a spot on the medal stand.

Men’s 200 individual medley, SM11
Israel Oliver of Spain won with a European record time of 2:25.90, well ahead of Oleksandr Mashchenko of Ukraine, who posted a 2:30.50. Keiichi Kimura was third with a 2:31.08.

Women’s 200 individual medley, SM11
Mary Fisher didn’t approach her world record of 2:46.91 to win the event, but her time of 2:50.25 was barely enough to take the gold ahead of Germany’s Daniela Schulte’s 2:50.77. Maja Reichard of Sweden was well back for third with a 3:00.42.

Men’s 100 breaststroke, SB12
The first of three straight world records happened when Uladzmir Izotau of Belarus posted a 1:06.03 to take down his own mark of 1:07.28 from last year’s Paralympics. Maksym Veraska of Ukraine placed second with a 1:08.24, while Sergey Punko was third with a 1:10.68.

Women’s 100 breaststroke, SB12
Karolina Pelendritou of Cyprus collected her country’s only medal of the meet, and it happened to be done with a world record time of 1:16.10. Pelendritou previously held the record with a 1:16.38. Placing second was Emely Telle of Germany with a 1:19.75, and Maryna Stabrovska of Ukraine was third with a 1:20.85.

Men’s 100 freestyle, SB13
Ihar Boki of Belarus wrapped up a successful meet with his fifth gold medal in world record time. He took nine tenths off his mark of 51.91 to put up a 51.05. Iaroslav Denysenko of Ukraine also chased Boki’s world record, but fell a little short with a runner-up time of 51.96. Charles Bouwer of South Africa took the bronze with an African continental record of 52.41.

Women’s 100 freestyle, SB13
In the final individual event of the competition, Valerie Grand-Maison gave the crowd reason to cheer with a winning time of 1:00.40. No matter that she was well off her world record of 58.87. Becca Meyers of the United States settled for silver with a 1:02.91, while Anna Krivshina was third with a 1:03.40.

Men’s 400 medley relay, 34 points
China won the men’s relay with a 4:10.16, with Russia right behind with a 4:10.30. Ukraine took the bronze with a 4:13.44. Brazil’s team that placed fifth set an American continental record of 4:23.61.

Women’s 400 medley relay, 34 points
What better way to conclude the meet than with a world record! Great Britain took the gold in the women’s relay with a 4:46.21 to take down the mark of 4:52.40 set by another British team in 2011. The only member who was part of both world record swims was Stephanie Millward. Russia collected the silver with a 4:59.51, while China’s time of 5:09.18 was good enough for bronze. The United States was disqualified.

Ukraine was the overwhelming winner of the medal count with 84 medals, 33 of which were gold. Great Britain was second with 55 medals, and Russia’s 54 medals ranked them third. The United States was fourth with 33 medals, 11 of which were gold.

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