With the Commonwealth Games fast approaching, Australian para-athletes continued to claim their title as podium favourites, winning five more medals at the Para Swimming World Championships in Madeira, Portugal, overnight.
Key points:
- Rowan Crothers won his second gold medal with the second fastest 100m freestyle ever for a disabled athlete
- Four more medals were handed to Australians overnight, to Katja Dedekind, Timothy Hodge, Matthew Levy and the mixed 4×100 medley relay team.
- Para-swimming will be incorporated into the July Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, along with several other Paralympic sports
Night six was led by Paralympian Rowan Crothers OAM, who won his second gold of the championships, beating Stefano Raimondi in the spectacular final sprint of the men’s 100m freestyle S10 final to hit the wall in just 50, 70 seconds.
This means the 24-year-old clocked the second-fastest 100m freestyle time of any disabled athlete.
In another blistering finish, the Australian team in the S14 4x100m medley mixed relay narrowly missed gold by 0.01 seconds in the new championship event.
Great Britain clinched first place, with a time of 4:08 and will head to their home games in Birmingham in July with the surge of momentum at their back.
Dolphins leader Katja Dedekind also made pool history, setting a new Oceania record in the women’s 400m freestyle S13 final, clocking a personal best 4:34.68 to win the silver in his third event.
Timothy Hodge added to his Championship medal tally, winning bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke S9 final with a time of 1:01.88, while the team’s most experienced swimmer, Matthew Levy, also won bronze in his second race of the night, clocking 1:24.36 in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB6 final.
Australia won six gold, 15 silver and nine bronze at these World Para Swimming Championships.
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The success will give the team plenty of confidence ahead of Birmingham, which will see the largest integrated Para sport program in Commonwealth Games history, as well as being the first event where more medals are available for women than men. men.
Other para-events include track and field, wheelchair basketball, cycling, bowls, para-powerlifting, table tennis and triathlon.
3×3 Wheelchair Basketball will make its debut as part of the parasport programme, while three able-bodied sports — Women’s T20 Cricket, 3×3 Basketball and Mixed Synchronized Diving — will also make their first appearances.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games can be watched live on Channel 7, 7mate and the 7Plus streaming platform from July 28 to August 8.
