International Paralympic Committee Swimming Championships: Day 6
The sixth day of the IPC Swimming Championships 2010 took place on the 20th of August amidst a spectacular crowd of international tourists from 53 different countries. Teams from around the world were present to win the maximum number of gold, silver and bronze medals for their respective countries. The venue was the Dutch city of Eindhoven which proved to be outstanding hosts’ for the Paralympic Games. For those watching the games at home, live broadcast was available as well on many different national and international sports and news channels.
The heats on the morning of the sixth day of the International Paralympic Committee Swimming Championships saw the most elite swimmers from across the world finish the race within seconds.
The Russian female athlete, Anna Efimenko, was the winner of the gold in the women’s 100 metre breaststroke in the first heat with a time of 1 minute and 16.49 seconds. Karin Petrovicova came in second who finished in a time of 1 minute and 16.75 seconds. As for the men’s 100 metre backstroke, U.S. swimmer Tucker Dupree clinched the first spot, finishing the race in 1 minute and 4.52 seconds. Meanwhile, in the second heat, Ukraine’s Maksym Veraksa was the first to finish with a time of 1 minute and 3.92 seconds.
In the second heat, Israeli athlete Inbal Pezaro won the women’s 100 metre freestyle in 1 minute and 28.75 seconds. She was followed by the Brazilian swimmer Joana Maria Silva who finished in the second place with a time of 1 minute and 32.25 seconds. In the second heat of the men’s 100 metre freestyle event, Brazil’s Daniel Dias finished at the top spot in a time of 1 minute and 16.03 seconds. The second place finisher of this particular event was Roy Perkins from USA. He finished the race in 1 minute and 16.03 seconds.
Chinese swimmer Rong Tian made it to the first spot in the men’s 50 metre butterfly in the first heat. He finished the meet in a time of 32.13 seconds. Matthew Levy from Australia was the second to finish with a time of 32.68 seconds. In the women’s event, the first and second place finishers were both swimmers from the USA with Mallory Weggemann clinching the first spot while Erin Popovich at the second place. The former finished the race in 35.91 seconds while the latter finished in 37.79 seconds.
The finals of the day started at 5 in the evening, 20th of August at the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium. The closing ceremony of the championships is scheduled to take place on the 21st of August.
On the final night of the event, before the closing ceremony, Australia’s consistent swimmers won another three gold medals. The medallist included two great Australian swimmers Matthew Cowdrey and Peter Leek who won the 100 metres backstroke and 100 metres freestyle respectively in the shortest time in the world. Both swimmers broke previously set records in their respective events.
The Australian team’s gold haul reached a tally of 12 when one of the team members won a gold medal in the men’s 4 into 100 metre medley relay. After the Paralympic Games of 2000 that took place in Sydney, this event is Australia’s most successful swimming event so far.
IPC Swimming Championships is spanned to take place over the 15th to the 21st of August in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The tournament is host to a total number of 649 athletes from over 53 countries across the world. On the basis of the number of participant athletes and countries, the championship is one of the largest swimming events which have taken place in the 2010 so far.
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