Day Five: IPC Swimming Championships
Australian swimmers and doing a brilliant job at the IPC Swimming Championships taking place in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The Australian athlete, Peter Leek finished the men’s 100 metre butterfly in a time of 1 minute and 00.45 seconds, crossing his own world record mark.
The country’s success at the Championships seems consistent and continuous since the nation’s best swimmers grabbed another two gold medals and three others on the fifth day if the event here on the 19th of August in Eindhoven.
Already the winner of the three gold medals at the Beijing Paralympics, this gold medal was Leek’s fourth. Talking to the correspondents of ABC TV, he said that this particular race has been very good for him. He said he was relaxed when he swam in the heats, so that he can build his stamina to survive the pressure in the finals. Leek repeatedly expressed his happiness at the win, while talking to the media persons.
The same day of the Championships, Matt Cowdrey managed to finish in the second place and thus won a silver medal in the 50 metre freestyle. The athlete was successful in qualifying for the final, finishing second to China’s Zhi Guo with just a difference of 0.26 seconds.
In the final, Cowdrey and Zhi were back to back again, however, this time the lead was anchored by Cowdrey, finishing the race in 25.53 seconds, while Zhi finished the race in 25.78 seconds. The number of medals on Cowdrey’s list increased to four golds and one silver. Cowdrey said that he could not have asked for more than what he got. He further said that he could have been a little faster just to surpass the world record mark but still was more than happy with the way he met in the race. Moreover, Cowdrey revealed that he felt immensely strong, especially towards the closing of the race, the last 15 metres.
Delivering a success speech at the podium, Cowdrey confessed that the 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay team, including Matt Levy and Leek along with Cowdrey himself had good luck upon them that night.
Pasterfield had to struggle through the pool to qualify for the silver medal till the end in the 50 metre men’s freestyle. He was reported to have said that swimming in the fourth lane; he could sense the other swimmers coming behind him. Since he was the fastest qualifier of the race, he was pleased to be the fourth lane swimmer and was very enthusiastic about the whole swim.
Pasterfield’s fellow team member, Michael Anderson, was the fifth place finisher in the 50 metre freestyle and was 0.99 seconds later than Pasterfield.
The Australian swimmer, Levy made it to the silver medal in the 100 metre freestyle by finishing just 0.09 seconds behind the gold medal winner of the race. He’s still content with his swim because he claimed a new Australian record with this time.
Marayke Jonkers, who has previously claimed the silver and bronze medals in the Paralympics, added to the Australian success by winning the bronze medal in the 50 metre breaststroke.
As for swimmers from Kiwi, besides Sophie Pascoe’s three medals that she has won at the IPC Swimming Championships in Eindhoven till now, a bronze medal was won by the 17 year old athlete Rebecca Dubber with a time of 1 minute and 25.39 seconds in the women’s 100 metre race at the Championships. This particular race was won by the German swimmer Kirsten Bruhn, with a world record time of 1 minute and 23.19 seconds.
In the Heats the same morning, the women’s 50 metre freestyle race was won by Louise Watikin, a British swimmer with a time of 29.79 seconds, while in the women’s 100 metre butterfly; Jessica Long toppled the race in the second heat with a time of 1 minute and 13.31 seconds.
IPC Swimming Championships is scheduled to take place from the 15th to 21st of August. It is hosting a total of 649 athletes from 53 different countries across the globe.
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