Leanne Smith Sets Three World Records at Para Swimming World Series Meet

Hannah Aspeden; Photo Courtesy: Kevin McCarthy

Leanne Smith Sets Three World Records at Para Swimming World Series Meet

American Leanne Smith won five gold medals and set three world records over three days at the Para Swimming World Series meet in Indianapolis.

Smith, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Paralympics, won the women’s 150-meter IM with a record of 2:49.80 on the final day of competition Sunday.

“It was definitely not expected,” Smith said. “Going into this morning, I had a great prelims swim and just for fun looked up what the world record was in that event and realized just how close I was to it. Coming back tonight we did some case work to it, I felt good. I just went out there and tried to have fun and end on a really high note. It’s amazing to see your hard work pay off.”

Full Results

Paralympic champion Hannah Aspden picked up her first gold in Indiana grabbing a win in the 100m backstroke, the same event that brought her to the top of the podium in Tokyo. Teammates and fellow Tokyo gold medalists Elizabeth Marks and Gia Pergolini joined her on the podium taking second and third place respectively.

“I feel great,” Aspden said. “It’s amazing to be back at this pool after a couple of years and see everybody, bring everyone back together and get to race in this amazing facility. To have spectators and fans here watching, it was just a really fun weekend.”

For five-time Paralympian Rudy Garcia-Tolson, the world series stop and gold in today’s men’s 200m IM coined a special end and full circle moment from where his career began.

“My expectations were to swim fast and prepare myself for world championships hopefully,” said Garcia-Tolson. “This is definitely my last national championship, I was here in 1998 for the first time so it’s almost a bittersweet ending to where I started when I was about eight years old.”

Fellow U.S. Paralympic gold medalists Anastasia Pagonis and Robert Griswold each swam to their own top podium places on the grand finale with Pagonis taking the 200m IM top spot and Griswold repeating his Tokyo win in the men’s 100m backstroke.

“Getting back into a meet for the first time since Tokyo and being a selection for worlds, coach Nathan and I decided that it would be best to roll through this meet without much rest,” said Griswold. “We’ve been working really hard in training and trying to do the details right. That was an added challenge with being used to getting a little more rest before these meets but I think it’s something I will take confidence and learning experiences from.”

The 2022 Para Swimming World Series had a total of five stops in this year’s circuit bringing swimmers across the globe with the end goal of world championship spots on the line. U.S. Paralympics Swimming will review all results from the year to determine the world championship team which will be announced by April 15.

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with U.S. Paralympics Swimming. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use