Commonwealth Games, Day One Para Events: Nathan Hendricks Powers to Victory in 100 Freestyle
South Africa’s Nathan Hendricks, a student at the University of Pretoria, notched a convincing victory in the S13 classification of the 100-meter freestyle during Friday’s opening finals session at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Hendricks bolted to the front of the field off the start and never yielded that advantage while handing his homeland its first title of the swimming competition.
Hendricks, a 2024 Paralympian in Paris, took the lead behind a front-half split of 26.17 and came home in 28.37, efforts that were enough to defeat Scotland’s Stephen Clegg, who won silver in 55.16. The bronze medal was captured by England’s Matthew Redfern, who touched in 56.86. There was a tie for fourth place between Scotland’s James Clegg and India’s R.V.V.B.K. Budigina, who had matching swims of 57.57.
Women’s 100 Freestyle (S13)
Australia’s Jenna Jones packaged a wire-to-wire victory in the S13 classification of the 100 freestyle, going 1:03.89 for a .41 decision over Wales’ Ela Letton-Jones. A two-time Olympian, Jones went out in 29.83 and maintained her lead over Letton-Jones, who rallied from sixth place to the runnerup position over the last lap. Letton-Jones touched the wall in 1:04.30.
The bronze medal was collected by Australian Kirralee Hayes, who finished with a time of 1:04.42. Hayes grabbed the last spot on the podium ahead of South Africa’s Danika Vyncke, who established an African record of 1:04.68.
Women’s 200 Individual Medley (S10)
Faye Rogers sat in second place at the midway point of the 200 individual medley, but the Scot pulled into the lead on the third leg and pulled away over the last length to win the gold medal in 2:29.61. That effort was more than two seconds clear of runnerup Australian Jasmine Greenwood, who finished in 2:32.13. The bronze medal was earned by Canada’s Mary Jibb in 2:32.54.
Men’s 100 Butterfly (S10)
Alex Saffy was in command throughout the final of the 100 butterfly (S10) to pick up the gold medal in 57.11, which was almost a half-second clear of the 57.49 by countryman Col Pearse. The top seed heading into the final, Canada’s Fernando Lu was disqualified. In his absence, Canadian Jack Gill was the bronze medalist in 1:00.30.