Belarus’ Ihar Boki got the Madeira 2020 European Open Championships off to a flying start by taking gold and lowering his world record in his first race of the year.
The 26-year-old, who is aiming to
retain the seven European titles he won in Dublin 2018, hit the wall first in
the men’s 100m butterfly S13 in 53.72, smashing the record he set at the Rio
2016 Paralympic Games. It was also three seconds ahead of his nearest rival
Russia’s Oleksii Virchenko followed by France’s Alex Portal.
“I am happy because in the next six
days I have six more starts. It was my first race of the year and this is not a
bad start of the competition for me,” said Boki, who is also an 11-time
Paralympic champion. “I know this will be a tough season and to start it like
this is amazing. I am looking forward to the future and also to the Tokyo
Paralympics.”
NEW EUROPEAN RECORDS
Two European records were also broken
at the Penteada Olympic Pools Complex in the Madeira capital Funchal on the
first day of the week-long Championships on Sunday (16 May).
Italy’s Guilia Terzi secured the
women’s 200m individual medley SM7 and broke the European record with a time of
3:08.12. Ukraine’s Anna Hontar took silver and Russia’s Milana Shchelokova
bronze.
Her gold medal was among seven the
Italians won, on what was another strong showing from the world champions. They
ended the first day on top of the medals table, followed by Russia with five
golds and Ukraine four.
The Italians got off to a dream start
thanks to European champions Xenia Palazzo’s stunning victory in the women’s
400m freestyle S8 and Stefano Raimondi’s in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB9.
Carlotta Gilli also added to her
world and European titles when she won gold in the 100m butterfly S13 in
1:03.71. She landed ahead of Daria Pikalova of Russia and fellow Italian
Alessia Berra.
“I am very happy to be competing at
the European Championships. I hope that the other events will also be like this
one today,” she said. “There was a big break between the competitions over the
past year and this is a fantastic comeback to the swimming pool. This season I
hope only for the good results.”
Italy also notched up golds in the
men’s 50m freestyle S5, men’s 50m breaststroke SB2 and women’s 50m freestyle
S10.
Switzerland’s Nora Meister also broke
the European record in the women’s 100m backstroke S6. The 17-year-old recorded
a time of 1:21.78, which was just inside the time set by Germany’s Verena
Schott, who came second in the race.
“I really didn’t expect the European
record. I was really surprised when I got to the finish line,” said Meister,
who won two European titles in Dublin 2018. “For sure, this result is a big
motivation for me. I can’t wait to have more races here in Madeira and to keep
on growing day by day until Tokyo.”
A HUNDRED DAYS TO TOKYO
Sunday marked 100 days to go to the
Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and many of the 380 athletes competing in Madeira are
still after qualification for the Games.
For others, the Euros are a chance to
get more races under their belts ahead of the trip to Japan in August. Among
those was veteran Spanish swimming sensation Teresa Perales who won gold in the
50m freestyle S5 in 38.78 ahead of Monica Boggioni from Italy and 17-year-old
Sevilay Ozturk from Turkey.
“I was a little bit afraid because of
the pain in my shoulder, but it was an important race for me,” Perales said. “I
started great, although very careful because I need to have my shoulder ready
for Tokyo, but I am really happy with the outcome.”
She also thanked the Spanish team for
its support: “I am very grateful. I have been with the national team for 23
years now and it’s amazing to have all of them with me. They support me and I
feel like they are a confidence boost for me.”
Perales’ win was the second for
Spain. Sarai Gascon won gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9.
The competition is also open to
non-European athletes ahead of the Paralympics. Brazilian Gabriel Bandeira had
an outstanding race in the men’s 200m freestyle S14 landing first in 1:55.37.
The European title was awarded to Russia’s Viacheslav Emeliantsev, with silver
to Great Britain’s Thomas Hamer and bronze to Russia’s Mikhail Kuliabin.
Great Britain also celebrated a win
in the women’ 200m freestyle S14. Jessica-Jane Applegate, who won silver in the
event in Dublin 2018, looked in control of the title this time round. She
touched in at 2:12.26 ahead of Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden.
France (Laurent Chardard, men’s 100m
backstroke S6), Lithuania (Edgaras Matakas, men’s 50m freestyle S11),
Azerbaijan (Raman Salei, men’s 100m backstroke S12) and Hungary (Fanni Illes,
women’s 100m breaststroke SB4) also celebrated a gold medal on day one.
The European Championships continue
on Monday (17 May) with 22 finals in Madeira. Full results and a complete
schedule can be found on the Madeira 2020 website
https://www.paralympic.org/madeira-2020/schedule-results/.
You can watch day two live on World
Para Swimming website www.worldparaswimming.org and Facebook page
www.facebook.com/ParaSwimming (with geo-block restrictions in Spain and the
United Kingdom).
The International Paralympic
Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement.
The IPC supervises the organisation
of the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International
Federation for ten sports, for which it oversees and co-ordinates the World
Championships and other competitions, including swimming.
The IPC is committed to enabling
Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and to developing sport
opportunities for all persons with a disability from the beginner to elite
level. In addition, the IPC aims to promote the Paralympic values, which
include courage, determination, inspiration and equality.
For further information, please
contact Rafael Maranhao, IPC Public Relations Senior Manager
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