Photo by\u00a0Andrew Fielding-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n
PASADENA, California, August 8. ANOTHER truckload of records fell at the Para Pan Pacific Championships in Pasadena last night. \u00a0Here’s a roundup of some of the best performances of the night.<\/p>\n
The record books were rewritten again on the second day of the 2014 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships in Pasadena, California. In the women’s 400-meter freestyle S13 race, American Becca Meyers bested a 5-year-old world (4:28.64), swimming 4:25.31 in the morning preliminary race.\u00a0<\/span> Nathan Stein of Surrey, B.C., won gold and bronze and Aur\u00e9lie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., added her second victory in two days on Thursday at the Para Pan Pacific Para-swimming championships.<\/p>\n The Canadian team collected two gold, six silver and five bronze on day two of competition along with five more national records to bring its total to 3-10-11.<\/p>\n In the men\u2019s S10 100-m butterfly, Stein smashed the Canadian record held by Benoit Huot clocking 57.77 seconds. Alec Elliot of Waterloo, Ont., a national team rookie, also went under the old 58.91 mark for silver in 57.98 while Ian Silverman of the U.S. was third in 58.19.<\/p>\n Stein missed the world championships in Montreal last year due to knee and shoulder injuries.<\/p>\n \u2018\u2019I wanted to come back with a vengeance,\u2019\u2019 said Stein, a silver medallist in the 50-m freestyle at the 2012 Paralympics. \u2018\u2019Missing the worlds at home last year certainly put a chip on my shoulder. It was a super tough recovery but I\u2019m in better shape than ever.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Canada collected five medals in the 100-m butterfly races. Adam Rahier of Powell River, B.C., and Michael Qing of Regina were second and third in the S14 race and Nicholas-Guy Turbide of Quebec City third in the S13.<\/p>\n In the 50-m freestyle, Stein added a bronze, Jean-Michel Lavalliere of Quebec City took silver in the S7 and Maxime Rousselle of St-Jean-sur Richelieu, with a Canadian record, and Dalton Boon of Delta, B.C., won silver and bronze in the S14. Andrew Cooke of Penticton, B.C., was fourth in the S5 in Canadian record time.<\/p>\n Rivard showed no mercy for her opponents winning the women\u2019s S10 400-m freestyle by more than 10 seconds. She also placed first in the 50-m freestyle Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u2018\u2019That was my fastest time since the Paralympic Games,\u2019\u2019 said Rivard, 18, a quintuple medallist at the world championships last year. \u2018\u2019I\u2019m a racer and I think the circumstances today made it tough for me to get my best time.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Brianna Nelson of Victoria was second in the women\u2019s S7 50-m butterfly while in the men\u2019s 200-m freestyle, Boon notched silver in a Canadian record in S14 and Danial Murphy of Bedford, N.S., also lowered the national mark for bronze in the S5.<\/p>\n \u2018\u2019The hard work has really paid off,\u2019\u2019 said Murphy. \u2018\u2019I have two Canadian records and I\u2019m feeling really good out there. My turns have improved a lot and that\u2019s allowed me to get the speed I need.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo by\u00a0Andrew Fielding-USA TODAY Sports PASADENA, California, August 8. ANOTHER truckload of records fell at the Para Pan Pacific Championships in Pasadena last night. \u00a0Here’s a roundup of some of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":103986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,62076,10],"tags":[42195,35178,42269,34399,24852],"class_list":["post-103985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-paralympics","category-world","tag-becca-meyers","tag-cortney-jordan","tag-daniel-diaz","tag-daniel-fox","tag-jessica-long"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n
Meyers went on to claim the gold medal in the event during the evening final with a 4:25.58. The event, not contested at the 2012 Paralympic Games, where Meyers made her Paralympic debut with a silver and bronze medal, is slated for inclusion in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.<\/span>
\u201cI\u2019m really, really happy with my swims today,\u201d said Meyers, a Timonium, Maryland, native. \u201cI\u2019m so happy that I finally broke the world record in the 400 free. I\u2019m excited that it\u2019s going to be a Paralympic event in 2016 and I\u2019m glad to have the world record as we head into it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
She’s not content with just one world record here at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. \u201cI\u2019m hoping to break the world record in the 200 [individual medley]\u00a0<\/span>on Saturday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and the 100 free and 100 breast\u00a0<\/span>on Sunday<\/span><\/span>, I just hope to get good times,\u201d Meyers said. \u00a0<\/span>
Australian Daniel Fox set two world records on Day 2, first swimming a 25.18 in the men\u2019s 50m free S14 prelim then swimming a 24.77 in the final. Daniel Diaz of Brazil swam a world record 31.94 in the men\u2019s 50m free S5 final.\u00a0<\/span>
Team USA leads the medal count through Day 2 with 50 medals (13 golds, 21 silvers and 16 bronzes). Australia is second with 37 medals (22, 11, 4) and Canada is third with 25 (3, 10, 12).<\/span>
Meyers’ world record was the highlight of an action packed Day 2 that saw Team USA win 23 medals including five gold medals. On the women\u2019s side, Cortney Jordan (Henderson, Nevada) swam a 5:28.37 in the women\u2019s 400m free S7 to secure gold while Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) swam a 4:42.91 in the women\u2019s 400m free S8.<\/span>
\u201cI\u2019m happy with my swims but for me, it\u2019s not about winning right now, it\u2019s about learning,\u201d said Long, a 12-time Paralympic gold medalist who recently relocated to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. \u201cThe Pan Pacs are a learning experience. I\u2019m learning how to apply my new training. I\u2019m learning where I can still improve. I\u2019m really thinking about my races, what I\u2019m doing and I\u2019m taking that back with me so I can apply it later.\u201d<\/span>
In his first major international event since the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where he won two gold medals and a silver medal, retired U.S. Navy Lt. Brad Snyder (Baltimore, Maryland) swam a 1:03.66 in the men\u2019s 100m fly S11 and a 26.42 in the men\u2019s 50m free S11 for back-to-back golds. After winning the 400m free S11\u00a0<\/span>on Wednesday<\/span><\/span>, he now has three titles from the 2014 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships. \u00a0<\/span>
\u201cToday, I was really happy with that 100 fly,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a breakout swim for me. I think it proves that I have a little bit more strength maybe than I had in London. I was able to do it better here than I did at the 2012 Paralympics. The 50 was not quite as fast as I wanted it to be but I\u2019m happy. It\u2019s good to be out there again. It\u2019s good to be competitive. I\u2019m looking forward to bring the momentum that I\u2019m generating here to the world championships and on to Rio.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
The 2014 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships is the largest competition of the year for U.S. swimmers. Other top events on the Road to Rio include the 2015 world championships in Glasgow and the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto. The 2016 Paralympic Games are\u00a0<\/span>Sept. 7-18<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in Rio de Janeiro.<\/span><\/p>\nCanada Release<\/h2>\n