Switzerland’s Nora Meister is still only 17 but she is leading the charge for Para swimming in her country with a world record and a second gold medal at the Madeira 2020 European Para Swimming Open Championships.
The teenage talent was elated after
she hit the wall first in the 400m freestyle S6 in 5:12.87 on Wednesday (19
May). She had fought off a challenge from favourite Yelyzaveta Mereshko from
Ukraine who came in second followed by Germany’s Verena Schott.
“I am really tired. My arms really
hurt, but I am happy for breaking the world record and for winning another gold
medal. I hadn’t expected it,” Meister said.
It was Meister’s second gold medal at
the Penteada Olympic Pools Complex in the capital Funchal. She made her debut
at the Championships in the same venue in 2016 and later competed in Dublin
2018, where she won two titles.
She has now set her sights on her
first Paralympic Games in Tokyo this summer. Her success there, she hopes, will
raise the profile of Para swimming in her country. There have only ever been
two gold medals in swimming for Switzerland, the last at Toronto 1976.
“Paralympics are my biggest goal. Now
it looks good for me and I am happy to be there,” added the Swiss, who will
make her final race in Madeira on Friday in the 100m breaststroke SB6.
GILLI AND BARLAAM BREAK RECORDS
On day four world records also
tumbled for Italians Carlotta Gilli and Simone Barlaam. Gilli lowered the time
she set in Dublin 2018 in the 100m backstroke S13 and collected her third gold
medal in Portugal.
The reigning world and European
champion held off Russia’s Anna Krivshina who came second. Ireland’s
16-year-old Roisin Ni Riann had an excellent swim to finish third.
Her teammate Barlaam was thrilled
after he lowered the time he set in February in the 100m freestyle S9. In one
of the most eagerly awaited races of the night, Barlaam led from the front to
win his second gold medal, with France’s Ugo Didier finishing two seconds
behind and Russia’s Bogdan Mozgovoi third.
Italy had a dream start to the finals
with Antonio Fantin’s win in the men’s 400m freestyle S6, and Xenia Palazzo
gold in the women’s 100m freestyle S8.
The biggest cheer of the night,
though, came from the Portuguese in the venue when Susana Veiga won silver in
the 100m freestyle S9. There were no spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions,
but teammates and staff for the host nation were jubilant at the 21-year-old’s
outstanding performance.
She fought hard against European
record holder Sarai Gascon of Spain and narrowly missed gold. France’s Clair
Supiot was third.
“I have a lot of respect for Sarai
and it was an honour to compete against her. I don’t mind the silver medal,” said
Veiga.
“I am really young and have a lot of
time to improve my swimming and to win big medals. I am just happy to enjoy
this moment in front of my people. It was amazing.”
THIRD GOLD FOR BOKI AND ZHADANOV
It was also an excellent night for
Belarus’s superstar Ihar Boki and Russia’s Roman Zhdanov who each claimed their
third gold medals. Boki dominated the 100m backstroke S13 to win his 22nd
European Championship title while Zhdanov finished strongly in the 50m
backstroke S4.
Greece turned in an excellent
performance with two gold medals. Dimosthensis Michalentzakis landed his second
win of the competition in the 100m freestyle S8. He touched first in a
closely-fought contest ahead of Russia’s Andrei Nikolaev and Italy’s Alberto
Amodeo.
“It was a very difficult race. I
really did my best. I am not full of energy yet. It’s very good that I won two
races in that condition,” Michalentzakis admitted after the race. “It will make
me mentally stronger, and it is another step towards Tokyo.”
Alexandra Stamatopoulou also forged
ahead in another tight battle in 50m backstroke S4. Ukraine’s Olga Sviderska
and Russia’s Nataliia Butkova tied in second place.
In the 100m backstroke S7, Israel’s
Mark Malyar claimed a stunning victory over nearest rivals Italy’s Federico
Bicelli and Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov.
“I didn’t expect to win this one, but
I am really happy for it,” he said. “I felt really good in the morning, I knew
I can go fast and I just repeated that in the afternoon.”
Malyar now has his sights on another
gold: “I am swimming in the 100m breaststroke and should also be good there. I
hope that I will win another gold.”
FOUR VICTORIES FOR UKRAINE
Azerbaijan’s teenage sensation Vali
Israfilov caused an upset in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB12 when the
18-year-old beat world record holder Oleksii Fedyna on the line to claim gold.
Alberto Abarza from Chile won his
second event in Madeira in the men’s 200m freestyle S1-S2. There were also gold
medal winning performances for Russia from Maria Latritskaia in 100m
breaststroke SB12 and Iuliia Shishova in 50m backstroke S3.
Ukraine also had another excellent
day with four victories. Mykhailo Serbin led the way in the men’s 200m
individual medley SM11, Denys Ostapchenko in the men’s 50m backstroke S3 and
Anna Hontar in the women’s 100m backstroke S7, followed by a victory in the
mixed 4x100m medley relay.
Spain won the other relay of the
evening in Madeira, in the mixed 4x100m freestyle S14.
The 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 five live on World
Para Swimming website http://www.worldparaswimming.org/ and Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/ParaSwimming (with geo-block restrictions in Spain and
the United Kingdom).
Behind the scenes and all action from
Madeira can also be followed on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/paraswimming/ and Twitter
www.twitter.com/para_swimming.
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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