Quebecers Aurélie Rivard and Tess Routliffe both opened the Para-swimming worlds by capturing gold on Monday in the United Kingdom. The former defended her 50m freestyle S10 title brilliantly, while the latter was crowned world champion in the 200m medley in the SM7 class.
Routliffe was the first of the duo to take the top step of the podium. Her time of 2:57.77, a Canadian record, put her ahead of American Julia Gaffney by 5.3 seconds and Canadian Danielle Dorris by 8.16 seconds.
“[All I had in mind] was hitting the wall!” I couldn’t see who was around me and where I was, but I knew there were swimmers near me,” the gold medalist said.
At the 2022 worlds, Tess Routliffe won the silver medal in this event just behind Gaffney, a year after missing the Paralympic Games in Paris due to a back injury.
“I’m really happy with my race! We came here to see where we were and how we could better prepare for the Paralympic Games in Paris. […] There is improvement, which is good, but I see that there are still things to work on and that makes me happy in anticipation of Paris! shared the Montrealer.
For her part, Aurélie Rivard distinguished herself in the last final of the day to launch the sixth World Championships of her career. First in the 50m freestyle S10 with a time of 27.71s, the athlete from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu covered the distance in 27.64s in the grand final.
The Italian Alessia Scortechini (0.42 seconds) and the French Emeline Pierre (0.75 seconds) accompanied on the podium the one who now has 18 medals at the World Championships.
The finalists had to be patient on Monday as the event was delayed by around an hour at the end of the day.
“We’ve been in the call room for 45 minutes, we can’t believe it anymore! I was trying to remember that everyone was in the same situation as me, I purposely delayed my activation to be ready for the race,” said Aurélie Rivard.
“When they announced that we were finally going to swim in 15 minutes, everyone was screaming! In these circumstances, I am happy to have been able to surpass myself and defend my title. »
Rivard, who holds the world record in this distance at 27.37s, won gold in this event for the third consecutive time at the World Championships. A series interspersed in particular with a bronze medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
Also in this event, Arianna Hunsicker finished fourth in her qualifying heat (28.99s) and failed to reach the final.
Earlier, Saskatchewan’s Shelby Newkirk and British Columbia’s Nicholas Bennett were the first Canadian representatives to win gold medals in Manchester. Newkirk (S6) triumphed in the 100m backstroke and Bennett (S14) in the 200m freestyle.
“I’m glad I kept the country’s momentum going!” We were almost 100% for the gold medals! […] It gave me chills [to see them win], I was happy for them! I was also really proud to see that we could get on the top step of the podium in several events,” added Rivard.
With a time of 26.25s, Quebecer Alexander Elliot (S10) swam the men’s 50m freestyle and was stopped in qualifying.
Philippe Vachon was fourth in the 400m freestyle S8 due to a time of 4:38.85, while James Leroux, in action for the 100m breaststroke SB9 final, was fifth (1:10.29 ). Abi Tripp swam in the S8 400m freestyle final and finished eighth (5:29.99).
The World Para Swimming Championships will take place until Sunday.