Swimming

Long Wins 30th Paralympic Medal in Gold Medal Performance

September 5, 2024 by Tara S

by Julie Goldsticker | USA ParaSwimming

PARIS – Six-time Paralympian Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) won her 30th Paralympic medal on Wednesday, scoring gold in the women’s 400-meter freestyle S8. Morgan Stickney (Cary, North Carolina) and Christie Raleigh Crossley (Toms River, New Jersey) each added silver medals in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S7 and 100-meter freestyle S9 respectively.

Long’s gold medal is her sixth in the women’s 400-meter freestyle alone and her fourth first-place finish in the event going back to the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. She almost didn’t compete in the race following a silver medal finish in Tokyo but Long’s idol and director of U.S. Paralympics Swimming Erin Popovich provided the encouragement she needed to return to the 400 free.

“After Tokyo, I said to reporters, ‘I’m never doing that race again’ and here we are three years later. It was Erin Popovich who talked to me in December and said Jess, you need to get back into training for the 400 and I’m so glad she gave me that push. I got sixth in the backstroke, and fourth in the IM and I’m just really thankful and grateful. I got to stand on the podium but there’s so many people that should have been up there with me,” she said.

The 32-year-old felt the aches and pains from her competitions earlier in the day. “I woke up today really sore. My back was hurting. I’m so thankful for my coach who just continued to believe in me the whole day. I just remember thinking to myself before I jumped in – do this is for the little Russian girl who never gave up,” Long said.

She acknowledged that winning that 30th medal was important to her, and she accomplished what she set out to do. “I wanted to get to 30. That’s the goal. It’s so hard to prove can I do it again and again. This is my sixth Paralympic Games,” she said. “I was proud of my first Paralympic medal when I was 12 years old and I won by a tenth of a second and this to me is probably right up there. Just going back and showing my friends and family that I won a gold medal, there’s nothing better.”

As she approaches the end of her sixth Paralympic Games with a stacked trophy case, Long still doesn’t allow her medal count to be the full representation of who she is. “It’s amazing but this doesn’t define me. It can’t. I want people to see my work ethic and I want them to see how long I’ve done it and I want them to be proud of that and the fact that I’m still here. That’s a gold medal to me,” she added.

Long will complete her Paris 2024 schedule on Saturday in the women’s 100-meter butterfly S8.

Crossley has been racking up the hardware in Paris and Wednesday was no exception. She followed her gold medal on Tuesday with a silver in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S9. Despite her busy schedule, Crossley is enjoying her time in the pool at the Paris La Defense Arena. “It was fun to race. I’m definitely sore. I just want to go out there and have fun. Swim the best that I can in the pool. Come out with a smile on my face and I think everyone saw that there was a smile on my face tonight,” Crossley said.

She isn’t solely focused on her medal count. “The medal color doesn’t matter to me. It’s just putting out that best effort. Even if that wasn’t a podium, even if it was a fourth place and I gave everything I have. You’ve got to be happy if you’re coming out smiling. There’s zero expectations. It’s all about how we feel when we get done racing,” Crossley said.

She will be back for one more race, the women’s 100-meter butterfly S9 on Friday.

Stickney also put on quite a show in Paris, winning gold in her last event on Monday. She closed out her Paris 2024 Games with a silver medal in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S7 on Wednesday night and although it didn’t go exactly as she hoped, she is grateful to be able to compete. “I feel great. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted to do in the race, but I’m just honored to be here and really grateful to have this opportunity. Six or seven months ago, I didn’t even know if I would be here so to be able to be here and represent my country and come home with two medals is amazing,” Stickney said. “It was a bit of a challenge, but I tried my best and at the end of the day, I’m really happy.”

She says her biggest takeaway is to be able to have her family, supporters and medical team with her in Paris. “Having everyone up in the stands will be my biggest memory. I didn’t have that in Tokyo so being to share this moment with them is incredible,” she added. Today’s race was the final event of Paris 2024 for Stickney.

Aurélie Rivard wins 3rd straight Paralympic title in women’s S10 400m freestyle

September 5, 2024 by Tara S

The Canadian Press

Canada’s Aurélie Rivard swam to her third consecutive Paralympic gold medal in the women’s 400-metre S10 freestyle event on Thursday at the Paris Games.

The 28-year-old from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., won the final with a time of four minutes 29.20 seconds at Paris La Défense Arena.

Alexandra Truwit of the United States (4:31.39) and Bianka Pap of Hungary (4:35.63) earned silver and bronze, respectively.

It’s the third medal of the Games for Rivard, 28, who holds the world and Paralympic record in the 400 freestyle, set at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021. She has also won silver in the 100 freestyle and bronze in the 50 freestyle in Paris.

Tess Routliffe reached the podium for Canada in the pool just minutes before Rivard.

Routliffe grabbed bronze in the women’s SB7 100-metre breaststroke for her second medal of the Paralympics. The 25-year-old resident of Caledon, Ont., earned silver in the women’s SM7 200-metre individual medley.

U.S. Wins Gold Medal, Sets World Record in 4×100 Mixed Relay

August 6, 2024 by Tara S

henry bushnell

PARIS — The U.S. won swimming’s mixed medley relay here at the 2024 Olympics, recovering from a flop at Tokyo 2021 to beat China and Australia in world-record time.

The U.S. team of Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Nic Fink (breaststroke), Gretchen Walsh (butterfly) and Torri Huske (freestyle) finished in 3:37.43, narrowly ahead of China by 0.12 seconds.

Murphy swam the U.S. into a slight lead over the first 100 meters. China’s Qin Haiyang took back the lead at the 200 with a strong breaststroke leg. But Walsh and Huske, one of the stars of the week for Team USA swimming, closed with fury and held off China.

It was, in many ways, the expected result. And it was the only acceptable result for a country that has long been the giant of this sport; the country that likes to call its Olympics trials — and not the Olympics — the fastest swim meet, top-to-bottom, in the world.

Three years ago, however, the U.S. missed the podium entirely. A team also featuring Murphy and Huske — but questionably constructed by U.S. coaches — finished three full seconds behind Great Britain, way back in fifth place.

This time around, coaches got the lineup right. They selected four silver medalists in their respective 100-meter individual races. And together, as a collective, the silver medalists swam to a relay gold and a world record.

Summer McIntosh ends Katie Ledecky’s 13-year reign in 800m

February 12, 2024 by Tara S

Reuters | ESPN

DOHA, Qatar — Canadian wunderkind Summer McIntosh has ended Katie Ledecky’s 13-year unbeaten streak in the 800-meter freestyle in a major upset in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.

McIntosh clocked 8 minutes, 11.39 seconds at a sectionals meeting in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday to finish nearly six seconds faster than Ledecky.

Ledecky suffered her first defeat in the 800 since 2010, while 17-year-old McIntosh’s swim made her the second-fastest woman in the distance behind the American world-record holder.

Ledecky still owns the 16 fastest times in history, including her 8:04.79 world record.

The 26-year-old has dominated the 800 like no other, winning successive gold medals at the London, Rio and Tokyo Olympics. She is expected to defend her 800 gold in Paris and bid to become the first woman to win four successive titles in Olympic swimming.

She won her sixth consecutive world title in the 800 at last year’s championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

McIntosh has rapidly established herself as one of the world’s top swimmers, winning back-to-back world titles in the 200-meter butterfly and 400-meter medley.

She has focused on middle-distance events since missing the 800 final in Tokyo as a 14-year-old, but the result in Florida might encourage her to return the 800 to her Olympic program.

Both McIntosh and Ledecky have elected to skip the world championships, which start in Doha on Sunday, but Ledecky’s upset was a hot topic among the entrants in Qatar.

“I have some friends of the Canadian team, and I know Summer pretty well,” said American Hunter Armstrong, who will defend his 50-meter backstroke world title in Doha. “I’ll have to shoot her a text and congratulate her.”

Kate Douglass took different strokes to swimming success

January 5, 2024 by Tara S

By: Nick Zaccardi | NBC Sports

Kate Douglass went from squeezing onto the Tokyo Olympic team by two hundredths of a second in 2021 to becoming arguably the world’s most versatile swimmer in 2023, winning six medals at July’s world championships.

At USA Swimming’s annual Golden Goggles awards in November, Douglass shared the stage with Katie Ledecky as co-Female Athlete of the Year winners.

Douglass made the 2023 World team in freestyle, breaststroke and individual medley events. No American woman has swum all of those disciplines over an Olympic career. Douglass could do it over five days in Paris in July. She is an NCAA champion in the butterfly, too.

The 22-year-old native of suburban New York looked ahead to 2024 in a September goal-setting session with Todd DeSorbo, her coach at the University of Virginia.

“I said I wanted to make the Olympic team in multiple events,” Douglass recalled, “and kind of be as dominant as I can this summer.”

“She loved doing things correctly and challenging herself to see how fast you can go using perfect technique,” said Carle’ Fierro, who coached her then. “I would set goals for her, and then once she was close to that goal, I would set another one.”

Westchester swimmers received rubber ducks for personal bests or remarkable efforts in practice. Douglass’ mom, Allison, estimated she collected more than 50.

In January 2015, the reward was ice cream after Douglass qualified for her first Olympic Trials less than two months after her 13th birthday. At the same meet, she took photos with Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte (images courtesy Fierro).

Around that time, she spent 16 months wearing a back brace for 16 hours a day to treat moderate scoliosis. Douglass said that was likely the biggest challenge of her life to this point. She lugged the brace to her first Olympic Trials in 2016, where she raced four events with a best finish of 32nd as one of the youngest swimmers at the meet.

Douglass then spent her last two years of high school swimming at Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club in Stamford, Connecticut. Her coach there, Jamie Barone, had trained with Michael Phelps in the early 2000s at North Baltimore Aquatic Club.

“I watched Phelps go from an unknown 15-year-old to who he is. I swam at a national, international caliber for quite a while, and never in my life have I seen a swimmer move through the water the way Kate Douglass moves through the water,” Barone said of her efficient and deceptively effortless strokes. “She cuts through the water like a knife.”

Swimswam ranked her the No. 1 high school recruit of the class of 2019 in one of their 1,000-plus articles tagging her over the last decade.

Douglass considered schools in California, the longtime hotbed of women’s swimming, but ultimately stayed closer to home at the University of Virginia.

The Cavaliers were coming off a 12th-place finish at NCAAs and a coaching change, hiring DeSorbo to lead a program for the first time.

“She wasn’t going to college to try to make an Olympic team,” Allison said. “(Douglass and DeSorbo) matured together.”

Three more in Swimswam’s top 16 of the class of 2019 also went to Charlottesville. Virginia has since three-peated as national champion, with Douglass turning pro (but not moving) after sweeping all seven of her events at last March’s NCAAs (three individual, four relay).

“She takes days off,” DeSorbo said, “but mainly because I force her to. She gets really anxious and stressed if she feels like she’s not doing enough.”

The nerves were there on the fourth night of the Tokyo Olympic Trials, where the top two make the team in each individual event.

Douglass, after placing third in the 100m butterfly, was seeded second going into the final of the 200m individual medley, a race she hated at the time. It was a hard event for her, and it caused anxiety.

Still, she considered it her last real chance to qualify, though she still had other races remaining.

“That was kind of the first time I’ve ever really been under that kind of pressure,” she said. “Making the team was something I kind of never really believed that I’d do. I just didn’t really want to set that goal for myself and be disappointed.”

Douglass trailed second place by 1.03 seconds after the first 100 meters. She then powered home in her two best strokes — breast and free — to out-touch Madisyn Cox by two hundredths for the second and final Olympic spot behind Virginia teammate Alex Walsh.

“After I made it, I was like, oh, this is legit,” she said, “and then I think that I kept that momentum going.”

In Tokyo, Douglass rallied from sixth place at the midpoint to grab bronze by 11 hundredths of a second. Upon returning home, she donated a bunch of Olympic swag to Westchester Aquatic Club.

In 2022, she took a break from the 200m IM. She won 200m breast bronze at worlds instead.

Then came the summer of 2023. At the U.S. Championships, she won the 100m free and 200m IM, placed second in the 200m breast and third in the 50m free and 100m fly. At worlds, she took 200m IM gold and 200m breast silver, was fourth in the 100m free and anchored four medal-winning relays. Her six medals tied for the most of any swimmer.

“The variety of events that Kate can be competitive on an international level is, as far as I know, unrivaled in swimming history,” Barone said.

Douglass said in November that she will probably race four events at June’s Olympic Trials. She will likely skip the 100m fly even though it’s held on days one and two, and she would have no other events until day four. If trials go well, she can become the first American woman to swim six events at an Olympics (including relays) since Missy Franklin swam a record seven in 2012.

Kate Douglass’ Possible Olympic Trials Schedule

Date	Session	Event	Round
June 18	Day	100m Freestyle	Heats
	Night	100m Freestyle	Semifinals
June 19	Day	200m Breaststroke	Heats
	Night	100m Freestyle	Final
	Night	200m Breaststroke	Semifinals
June 20	Night	200m Breaststroke	Final
June 21	Day	200m Individual Medley	Heats
	Night	200m Individual Medley	Semifinals
June 22	Day	50m Freestyle	Heats
	Night	50m Freestyle	Semifinals
	Night	200m Individual Medley	Final
June 23	Night	50m Freestyle	Final

“I can’t remember if she said it or I said it, but I think one of the big goals is to try and break the world record in the 200m IM,” DeSorbo said. The world record is 2:06.12. Douglass is the sixth-fastest woman in history at 2:07.09.

Douglass is also working toward a master’s degree in statistics. Her busy summer included a remote data analytics internship with Dell Technologies.

In a Nov. 3 Virginia swimming Instagram Q&A, she said, “I see retirement in the near future. I don’t know when, but it’s coming. And I’m looking forward to it,” according to Swimswam.

She later clarified it was sarcasm.

“I always joke about retiring because I’m like, I can’t wait for retirement,” she said. “But at the same time, I mean, I have no idea. I definitely wouldn’t retire after this summer.”

Douglass admires Maya DiRado, who decided before her first Olympics in 2016 that it would be her final meet. DiRado won gold in her last race, then began a career as a business analyst at age 23. Douglass met DiRado to learn more about that transition.

“She’s so talented and also knows that there’s plenty to life after swimming,” DiRado wrote in an email, “which I hope young athletes, coaches, and parents appreciate when they watch her next summer.”

Paralympic Gold Medalist Morgan Stickney Persevered to Graduate College

August 9, 2023 by Tara S

Charlotte McKinley | Biola University

LA MIRADA, CALIF. — After seven years, countless surgeries and perseverance through suffering, Tokyo 2021 Paralympian Morgan Stickney will graduate from Biola University on May 5, 2023.

Stickney started college in 2016 ranked as a top-20 American freestyle swimmer and swam on Biola’s swim team as a freshman in 2016. Soon after, pain from a previously broken sesamoid bone in her left big toe quickly worsened leaving her unable to compete or swim. In 2017, she developed a staph infection in her foot and the then-20-year-old made the difficult decision to amputate her foot.

Just weeks after her surgery, Stickney was in the pool again. However, similar pain started in her right foot due to a mysterious cardiovascular condition that blocked blood flow to her lower legs. Stickney had to amputate her right foot and became a bilateral amputee.

Stickney kept training and won two Paralympic gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relay for the United States in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Recently, she set a new American record in the women’s S7 400 freestyle at the 2023 Citi Para Swimming World Series in Minneapolis. Throughout her training and suffering through surgeries and recovery, she continued to work on her college degree.

“Morgan’s courage, perseverance and deep faith in God have helped her persevere, and we are honored to present her with her hard-earned degree,” said Dr. Barry H. Corey, President of Biola.

Stickney will graduate with a B.S. in Applied Psychology on May 5, 2023 at 7 p.m.

CEO of the YouVersion Bible App, Bobby Gruenewald, is the commencement speaker for both of Biola’s Spring Commencement ceremonies. Gruenewald serves on the Leadership Team at Life.Church as the Pastor, Innovation Leader and Founder.

For those unable to attend in person, a live stream of the ceremonies will be available on the Biola website, and on Biola’s Facebook.

For more information or press passes, please contact Sarah Dougher, media relations coordinator, at sarah.m.dougher@biola.edu.

FOR MEDIA: Upon arrival to campus, please call (949) 521-1829.

Biola University

13800 Biola Ave.

La Mirada, CA 90639

2023 PARA WORLDS DAY 2: USA’S MORGAN STICKNEY SMASHES WORLD RECORD IN WOMEN’S S7 400 FR

August 9, 2023 by Tara S

James Sutherland | Swim Swam

Five world records fell during the second day of competition at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, including Morgan Stickney obliterating one mark to give the United States its first gold medal of the competition.

Stickney, 26, put up a time of 4:54.28 to win gold in the women’s 400 free S7, knocking nearly five seconds off the previous world record in the process.

Stickney’s time broke the previous mark of 4:59.02 set by Australian Jacqueline Freney in 2012, and she also broke her own American Record of 5:03.16 set earlier this year in Minneapolis.

Three of Tuesday’s world records came in the 100 freestyle, with two male and one female marks going down.

In the men’s 100 free S4, Israel’s Ami Omer Dadaon clocked 1:18.94 to erase the record of 1:19.26 he set earlier this year at the Para Swimming World Cup in Berlin.

In the S6 category of the men’s 100 free, Italian Antonio Fantin also broke his own world record, bringing his 1:03.65 mark from last year’s Worlds down to 1:02.98 to successfully defend his title.

On the women’s side, China’s Jiang Yuyan brought the 100 free S6 record sub-1:11 for the first time, as she put up a time of 1:10.86 to knock off the previous mark she shared with Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Mereshko (1:11.07), with the two swimmers having tied for bronze (in the S7 category) in the event at the 2021 Paralympics.

The lone non-freestyle world record broken on the day came in the men’s 100 fly S11, where Ukraine’s Danylo Chufarov logged a time of 1:00.66 to lower the 15-year-old mark of 1:01.12 set by Spain’s Enhamed Enhamed in 2008.

With six gold and eight total medals after the opening day, Italy led the medal table early on, and they extended that on Tuesday, now sitting atop the heap with nine gold and 15 total medals.

Leading things off for Italy on the day was Federico Bicelli, who won the men’s 400 free S7 in a time of 4:40.55 to top Argentine Inaki Basiloff (4:40.96).

Following Bicelli’s lead for the Italians was Fantin, who claimed the men’s 100 free S6, and they also had a victory from Stefano Raimondi, who topped the men’s 200 IM SM10 in 2:10.41. Raimond’s win marked a successful title defense, having won the event last year in Portugal, and he also won silver in Tokyo.

China had a strong showing on the day, moving up to second on the medal table after winning four golds and seven total medals on Tuesday to bring their cumulative tally up to 7/17.

In addition to Jiang’s win in the women’s 100 free S6, China also had Lu Dong set a new Championship Record in the women’s 50 back S5 (38.21), and Yuan Weiyi topped the men’s 50 back S5 in a time of 32.73, leading a 1-2-3 sweep.

The Chinese team then capped the night off by winning the mixed 4×50 free relay 20pts in 2:18.58, setting a new Championship Record.

Great Britain also had a strong day, including a podium sweep in the women’s 100 back S14 as they rank third on the medal table, tied with China with seven golds while trailing by one in terms of overall medal count.

RANK	NATION	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1	Italy	9	2	4	15
2	China	7	6	4	17
3	Great Britain	7	4	5	16
4	Australia	4	3	3	10
5	Canada	4	0	2	6
6	Brazil	3	4	5	12
7	Ukraine	3	3	3	9
8	Germany	3	2	1	6
9	Netherlands	2	3	0	5
10	Hungary	2	0	0	2
11	Spain	1	5	4	10
12	United States	1	3	4	8
13	Mexico	1	2	0	3
14	Israel	1	0	1	2
15	Greece	1	0	0	1
	Republic of Korea	1	0	0	1
17	Japan	0	3	3	6
18	France	0	2	2	4
19	Argentina	0	1	3	4
20	Azerbaijan	0	1	1	2
	New Zealand	0	1	1	2
22	Colombia	0	1	0	1
	Croatia	0	1	0	1
	Ireland	0	1	0	1
	Kazakhstan	0	1	0	1
	South Africa	0	1	0	1
27	Cyprus	0	0	1	1
	Denmark	0	0	1	1
	Switzerland	0	0	1	1
	Turkiye	0	0	1	1

ALL DAY 2 MEDALISTS

Men’s 400 Freestyle S7

Gold: Federico Bicelli (ITA) – 4:40.55
Silver: Inaki Basiloff (ARG) – 4:40.96
Bronze: Andrii Trusov (UKR) – 4:41.57

Women’s 400 Freestyle S7

Gold: Morgan Stickney (USA) – 4:54.28 WR
Silver: Ahalya Lettenberger (USA) – 5:22.27
Bronze: Sabrina Duchesne (CAN) – 5:31.17

Men’s 100 Freestyle S4

Gold: Ami Omer Dadaon (ISR) – 1:18.94 WR
Silver: Cameron Leslie (NL) – 1:22.56
Bronze: Takayuki Suzuki (JPN) – 1:22.91

Women’s 100 Freestyle S4

Gold: Tanja Scholz (GER) – 1:22.18
Silver: Lidia Vieira Da Cruz (BRA) – 1:29.43
Bronze: Gina Boettcher (GER) – 1:30.31

Men’s 50 Backstroke S5

Gold: Yuan Weiyi (CHN) – 32.73
Silver: Wang Lichao (CHN) – 32.92
Bronze: Guo Jincheng (CHN) – 33.71

Women’s 50 Backtroke S5

Gold: Lu Dong (CHN) – 38.21
Silver: He Shenggao (CHN) – 41.44
Bronze: Sumeyye Boyaci (TUR) – 43.32

Men’s 150 IM SM3

Gold: Ahmed Kelly (AUS) – 2:58.59
Silver: Marcos Rafael Zarate Rodriguez (MEX) – 3:19.28
Bronze: Emmanuele Marigliano (ITA) – 3:29.03

Women’s 150 IM SM3

Gold: Tanja Scholz (GER) – 2:53.18 CR
Silver: Marta Fernandez Infante (ESP) – 3:03.87
Bronze: Ellie Challis (GBR) – 3:13.13

Men’s 100 Freestyle S6

Gold: Antonio Fantin (ITA) – 1:02.98 WR
Silver: Talisson Henrique Glock (BRA) – 1:04.73
Bronze: Daniel Xavier Mendes (BRA) – 1:05.14

Women’s 100 Freestyle S6

Gold: Jiang Yuyan (CHN) – 1:10.86 WR
Silver: Anna Hontar (UKR) – 1:13.48
Bronze: Nora Meister (SUI) – 1:14.45

Men’s 200 IM SM10

Gold: Stefano Raimondi (ITA) – 2:10.41
Silver: Col Pearse (AUS) – 2:13.68
Bronze: Alexy Saffy (AUS) – 2:16.07

Women’s 200 IM SM10

Gold: Bianka Pap (HUN) – 2:28.58
Silver: Lisa Kruger (NED) – 2:30.15
Bronze: Faye Rogers (GBR) – 2:31.50

Men’s 100 Back S8

Gold: Inigo Llopis Sanz (ESP) – 1:05.32
Silver: Kota Kubota (JPN) – 1:06.40
Bronze: Sam Downie (GBR) – 1:08.36

Women’s 100 Back S8

Gold: Alice Tai (GBR) – 1:12.11
Silver: Xenia Francesca Palazzo (ITA) – 1:19.40
Bronze: Tupou Neiufi (NZL) – 1:20.35

Men’s 100 Fly S11

Gold: Keiichi Kimura (JPN) – 1:03.66
Silver: Uchu Tomita (JPN) – 1:04.28
Bronze: Mykhailo Serbin (UKR) – 1:07.29

Men’s 100 Fly S12

Gold: Douglas Matera (BRA) – 58.28
Silver: Stephen Clegg (GBR) – 58.41
Bronze: Raman Salei (AZE) – 58.73

Women’s 100 Fly S12

Gold: Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago (BRA) – 1:05.68
Silver: Maria Delgado Nadal (ESP) – 1:06.87
Bronze: Alessia Berra (ITA) – 1:06.98

Men’s 100 Back S14

Gold: Benjamin Hance (AUS) – 57.26 CR
Silver: Gabriel Bandeira (BRA) – 59.05
Bronze: Alexander Hillhouse (DEN) – 59.86

Women’s 100 Back S14

Gold: Bethany Firth (GBR) – 1:05.80 CR
Silver: Poppy Maskill (GBR) – 1:05.87
Bronze: Georgia Sheffield (GBR) – 1:08.61

Men’s 100 Breast SB13

Gold: Taliso Engel (GER) – 1:03.26 CR
Silver: Nurdaulet Zhumagali (KAZ) – 1:05.16
Bronze: David Henry Abrahams (USA) – 1:05.55

Women’s 100 Breast SB13

Gold: Rebecca Redfern (GBR) – 1:15.01
Silver: Colleen Young (USA) – 1:15.89
Bronze: Olivia Chambers (USA) – 1:18.45

Men’s 200 IM SM9

Gold: Timothy Hodge (AUS) – 2:12.74 CR
Silver: Ugo Didier (FRA) – 2:17.15
Bronze: Federico Morlacchi (ITA) – 2:21.26

Women’s 200 IM SM9

Gold: Zsofia Konkoly (HUN) – 2:35.91
Silver: Nuria Marques Soto (ESP) – 2:36.67
Bronze: Sarai Gascon (ESP) – 2:37.13

Mixed 4×50 Free Relay 20pts

Gold: China – 2:18.58 CR
Silver: Brazil – 2:23.65
Bronze: Ukraine – 2:25.93

Stickney’s second world title caps four-medal final night for Team USA in Manchester

August 9, 2023 by Tara S

KRISTEN GOWDY | USA Paralympic Swimming

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM – Team USA brought home four more medals, including a second title of the meet from Morgan Stickney (Cary, North Carolina), as the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships concluded with a seventh day of competition at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

World championships rookie Olivia Chambers (Little Rock, Arkansas) added a silver medal, while

Paralympians McClain Hermes (Dacula, Georgia) and Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs, Colorado) each brought home bronze to bring Team USA’s total on the meet to 25.

The Americans wrapped competition finishing 8th in the overall medal count. Chambers led the charge with six medals, while Noah Jaffe (Carlsbad, California) earned five. Stickney and Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) won two gold medals apiece to lead Team USA.

Already a world champion in the 400-meter freestyle S7, Stickney sprinted to her second world title of the meet in the 100-meter freestyle S7 in convincing fashion. Her time of 1:09.29 was nearly three seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “I don’t get to sprint very often, so it’s always fun to get to do that. These are some amazing competitors I get to go against, and it was a really fun race.”

Stickney’s win is her fourth career world championships gold medal. The two-time Paralympic champion will look to qualify for her second Paralympic Games next summer.

“It’s so fun to be here and so fun to be a part of Team USA,” she said. “I’m so excited to see what training looks like and what the next year has to bring.”

Teammate Julia Gaffney (Mayflower, Arkansas) earned a spot in the 100-meter freestyle S7 finals alongside Stickney, but elected not to compete in the evening session. Her preliminary time of 1:15.97 would have ranked her sixth in the finals. Gaffney has had a busy meet, earning three medals in five events.

The two-time Paralympian Hermes swam to her first world championships medal since 2017, securing bronze in the women’s 400-meter freestyle S11 with a time of 5:18.66.

For Hermes, the medal was redemption after a fourth-place finish in the event at the 2022 world championships.

“I had a really good prelim swim today, and knew I had to keep it together for the finals,” Hermes said. “I did something similar last year where I swam really fast in the morning and then fell apart at night, so I knew that I needed to go out strong and hold onto it. I’m really happy to go another personal best time tonight and to get a medal.”

Hermes attributed her medal in part to her recent shift to training as a dual-sport athlete in both swimming and paratriathlon. She recently graduated from Loyola University Maryland and has transitioned to living at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“My training has really changed,” she said. “I learned how to ride a bike and run in the last year, and that has really benefitted my training. I’m swimming less, but I’m doing so much more cardio and cross-training that it’s really impacting my swimming for the better. It’s really great to be competing in two sports right now and seeing growth in both.”

The medal is Hermes’ sixth career world championships podium.

Chambers, meanwhile, completed a perfect six-for-six podium performances in her world championships debut, taking her second consecutive silver medal in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM13. Chambers wrapped her meet with a time of 2:28.23, putting herself comfortably in the silver medal position.

The 20-year-old will return home with four bronze medals to accompany her two silvers in what has been a dominant and well-rounded first world championships. She won medals in three freestyle events, plus butterfly and breaststroke, then put it all together for her individual medley medal tonight.

She will seek her first Paralympic Games berth next summer.

Teammate and Paralympic medalist Colleen Young (St. Louis, Missouri) returned to the pool for her final race of the meet and placed fifth behind Chambers. Young won silver in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke SB13 earlier in the week, adding her 12th career world championships medal.

The five-time Paralympic medalist Marks swam to her second bronze medal of the meet, snagging a podium finish in the women’s 50-meter butterfly S6 competition. Marks’ time of 36.80 was just .3 seconds off the silver medal pace, and just over two seconds behind the world record and gold medal-winning time set by Yuyan Jiang of China.

Marks also earned bronze in the 200-meter individual medley SM6 earlier in the week. She adds her fourth and fifth world championships medals to her resumé in Manchester as she tries for her third Paralympic Games next summer.

Paralympic silver medalist David Abrahams (Havertown, Pennsylvania), already a Manchester medalist in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke SB13, just missed his second medal of the week in the men’s 200-meter individual medley SM13. Abrahams put together a strong second half of the medley in the breaststroke and freestyle legs and was just out-touched at the wall, finishing .29 seconds off the bronze medal pace. Abrahams is set to return to Harvard University for his senior season on the men’s swimming team.

After winning a bronze medal in last night’s 200-meter freestyle, Paralympic silver medalist Leanne Smith (Salem, Massachusetts) finished her meet with a fifth-place result in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S3. She swam to a time of 2:05.61 in her sixth race of the week.

Team USA’s mixed 4×100-meter freestyle relay finals team, comprised of Stickney, Jaffe, Jamal Hill (Inglewood, California) and Audrey Kim (Salt Lake City, Utah) combined for a fifth-place finish in the mixed 4×100-meter freestyle relay 34 pts. to cap the meet for the Americans. Team USA swam to a time of 4:12.75.

The prelims relay team of Jaffe, Hill, Lizzi Smith (Muncie, Indiana) and Long finished second in their heat to qualify Team USA’s finals team into the evening session.

Hill also earned a fourth-place finish in the men’s 50-meter freestyle S9 just before competing in the relay finals. The Paralympic bronze medalist missed the podium by just .16 seconds in one of the closest Team USA finishes in Manchester. He and Stickney both raced both individual and relay races on the day.

Lizzi Smith, who swam in the prelim relay and qualified for the women’s 50-meter freestyle S9 final in the morning session, took a sixth-place finish in the event final. The three-time Paralympic medalist’s top finish of the week was fourth in the women’s 100-meter butterfly S9.

Paralympian Lawrence Sapp (Waldorf, Maryland) earned a seventh-place finish in the men’s 100-meter butterfly S14 competition, his signature event and only race of the meet. Sapp swam nearly identical times between his prelim and his final, finishing in 58.10 and 58.09, respectively.

Rounding out Team USA’s results was Paralympic champion Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, North Carolina), who wrapped her meet with a sixth-place finish in her heat of the women’s 50-meter freestyle S9.

With 2023 Para Swimming World Championships competition concluded, Team USA turns to its next major meet: the 2023 ParaPan American Games in Santiago, Chile, this November. Follow U.S. Paralympics Swimming on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on the team.

For media requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.

Team USA Medals – August 5

GOLD
Morgan Stickney – women’s 100-meter freestyle S7

SILVER
Olivia Chambers – women’s 200-meter individual medley SM13

BRONZE
McClain Hermes – women’s 400-meter freestyle S11
Elizabeth Marks – women’s 50-meter butterfly S6

CATARINA MACARIO, CHLOE KIM AND MORE: 20 FEMALE ATHLETES TO KNOW IN 2022

December 21, 2021 by Tara S

As 2021 comes to an end, it’s time to look forward to the year ahead in sports.

With the Winter Olympics in February, March Madness on the calendar and a landmark NWSL season to come, women’s sports fans are in store for an exciting year.

Here are the 20 athletes to know or get reacquainted with in 2022:

[Read more…]

Swimming

MEDAL TABLE THROUGH DAY 2

ALL DAY 2 MEDALISTS