MANCHESTER,
UNITED KINGDOM – For the first time at the 2023 Para Swimming World
Championships, Team USA captured multiple world championships in a single
night, as Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) and Christie Raleigh Crossley
(Toms River, New Jersey) put together gold medal performances to lead the way
for the Americans.
Also
earning medals for the U.S. were Olivia Chambers (Little Rock, Arkansas) and
Leanne Smith (Salem, Massachusetts), who earned silver and bronze,
respectively. The four-medal night brings the U.S. total to 21 on the meet with
one day of competition remaining at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
Long’s
37th career world title came in dominant fashion after she broke away early
from the rest of the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM8 competition and
never looked back. The 29-time Paralympic medalist’s time of 2:44.66 topped the
field by nearly four seconds.
“This is
what I wanted to do coming into this,” she said. “I’ve definitely been swimming
with that mindset. I don’t feel my greatest, I’m definitely under the weather,
but I’m so proud of what I was able to do. That one feels really sweet.”
With the
win, Long adds her second title in Manchester. For the 31-year-old looking to
compete in her sixth Paralympic Games next summer, the two golds have given her
confidence heading into the final year of the Paralympic quad.
“This
gives me a lot of confidence considering that I have been training mostly by
myself,” Long said. “I am so grateful for Frank, Andrew, Ryan, David, the
people in my life who have gotten me this far, because at about six weeks out
to this meet, I thought I wasn’t ready. Paris is the next stage, and I feel
pretty excited about it.”
She now
has 54 world championships medals – 37 of which are gold – in her career, which
dates back to her worlds debut in 2006.
“It feels
pretty amazing,” she said. “I think little Jess would be really proud.”
While
Long earned her 37th world title, Raleigh Crossley took home their first,
snagging a tight victory in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S9 competition.
The world championships rookie sat behind silver medalist Nuria Marques Soto by
.15 at the 50-meter turn, but surged in the final meters to claim victory by
.24 over the Spaniard.
“I’m
extremely happy,” they said. “I miss my kids a lot, I wish they were here with
me. It’s been a rough couple of months with some medical issues, so to be able
to come in and get the job done was something I’m really proud of.”
Raleigh
Crossley, who is a mother of three looking to make her first Paralympic Games
next summer, said it meant the world to her to bring home a gold medal for Team
USA.
“It means
everything,” they said. “When my injury happened, I thought swimming was done
for me and that the dream of representing Team USA was over. I’m just super
thankful that the Paralympic movement was here and it gave me that second
chance.”
Putting
together strong performances in the same event were Team USA’s Lizzi Smith
(Muncie, Indiana) and Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, North Carolina), who placed fifth
and sixth, respectively. Both Paralympic medalists will compete in tomorrow’s
50-meter freestyle S9 race to round out their meets.
In the
400-meter freestyle S13, Chambers raced out to an early lead before dropping
back in the second half of the race for her first silver medal of the event and
best result of the meet thus far. Her time of 4:37.03 was more than two seconds
faster than her morning preliminary heats race.
At the
Para level, Chambers specializes in the 400-meter freestyle, which is the
longest distance offered in her classification, though she competes in longer
distances in her collegiate meets at the University of Northern Iowa.
“That’s
probably my favorite race for Para,” she said. “I just like to have fun with
it, take it out and try to hold on. Today, I was just trying to race everyone
around me and hang onto my pace.”
Chambers
is a perfect 5-for-5 in her races in Manchester. She has nabbed four bronzes in
addition to today’s silver in what has been an unprecedented world
championships debut for the 20-year-old University of Northern Iowa
student-athlete.
Though
she is primarily a distance swimmer, Chambers has also earned podium spots in
two shorter freestyle events, plus the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter
breaststroke. The 200-meter individual medley tomorrow is her final race.
“It means
a whole lot,” Chambers said of her success in Manchester. “It’s not something I
expected coming into this. I knew I had a long lineup, so I was just trying to
take it race by race, but it really means a lot to medal in all of them.”
Leanne
Smith brought home her first medal of the meet in the women’s 200-meter
freestyle S3 competition, taking bronze in the event in which she is the world
record holder. She swam to a time of 4:21.95.
One of
the U.S. team’s top performers at the 2022 world championships in Madeira,
Portugal, Smith is still working her way back to top form as she looks to
qualify for her second career Paralympic Games.
“It’s
been a really tough year for me,” Smith said. “I spent seven months out of the
pool, and I had to relearn a lot of basic motor functions. So to be able to
make this team and come here and see where I’m at, it’s been a turbulent
process to say the least. But I’m happy that journey was able to end here with
a medal.”
Competing
in his second career world championships, Morgan Ray (St. Augustine, Florida)
swam to fourth place in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke SB6 final with a time
of 1:23.04. Ray, who was the silver medalist at last year’s world championships
in the 100-meter breaststroke, is looking to qualify for his first Paralympic
Games as he wraps his individual competition slate in Manchester.
Team
USA’s Audrey Kim (Salt Lake City, Utah), who helped the Americans qualify for
last night’s mixed 4x100-meter medley relay 34 pts by swimming in the
preliminary heats, wrapped her individual competition slate in the morning
session with a fifth-place finish in her heat of the women’s 100-meter
freestyle S10.
Competition
resumes August 6 at 9 a.m. local time with the final day of preliminary heats.
All sessions will be streamed live on NBC’s Peacock, and live results can be
found here. Follow U.S. Paralympics Swimming on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
for updates and results throughout the competition, which runs through August
6.
Team USA
Medals – August 5
GOLD
Jessica
Long – women’s 200-meter individual medley SM8
Christie
Raleigh Crossley – women’s 100-meter backstroke S9
SILVER
Olivia
Chambers – women’s 400-meter freestyle S13
BRONZE
Leanne
Smith – women’s 200-meter freestyle S3
PHOTO ⒸAlex Livesey/Getty Image
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