Great Britain and Ukraine Top Swimming Championships
Athletes from Great Britain and Ukraine put their teams on top in the medal ranking as the 2009 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming European Championships came to a close on 24 October in Reykjavik, Iceland.
As the competitions finished, Great Britain topped the medal standings, followed by Ukraine, Spain, Russia, Germany, Poland, France, Greece and the Netherlands (tie), and Hungary respectively.
On the final day in the Men’s 100m Freestyle (S13), Ukraine’s Oleksii Fedyna took first with his time of 53.86s. Fedyna was followed by Dzmitry Salei from Belarus and Dmytro Aleksyeyev from Ukraine. In the Women’s 100m Freestyle (S13), Ukraine’s Iryna Balashova took the first position with her time of 1:03.45. Balashova was followed by Great Britain’s Lauren Hobbins and Spain’s Begona Curero Sastre respectively.
In the Women’s 100m Backstroke (S6), Great Britain’s Nyree Lewis took first place with her time of 1:27.22. Lewis was followed by Russia’s Anastasia Diodorova and Spain’s Julia Castello Farre. For the Men’s 100m Backstroke (S6), Ukraine’s Yevheniy Bohodayko took first with his time of 1:17.67. Following Bohodayko was Russia’s Igor Plotnikov and Germany’s Swen Michaelis respectively.
A World record was set in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley (SM8) by Russia’s Olesya Vladykina with her time of 2:41.45. Great Britain’s athletes Heather Frederiksen and Emma Hollis came in second and third respectively. In the Men’s 200m Individual Medley (SM8), Great Britain’s athletes topped the rankings with Samuel Hynd coming in first, Richard Howard in second, and Thomas Young in third.
Many records were set in the pool in Reykjavik, including on the first day. On 18 October, Sweden's Anders Olsson took first place and set a new World record with a time of 4:47.75 in the Men's 400m Freestyle (S6). Following Olsson were Darragh McDonald (IRL) in second, and Matthew Whorwood (GBR) in third.
On the second day, a World record was set in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke (SB8) by Olesya Vladykina from Russia with her time of 1:17.60. Vladykina was followed by Poland’s Paulina Kamila Wozniak and Great Britain’s Claire Cashmore. Germany’s Lucas Ludwig set a European record in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley (SM10) with a time of 2:15.95. Ludwig was followed by Sven Decaesstecker from Belgium and Robert Welbourn from Great Britain.
Day three saw a European record set in the Men's 50m Backstroke (S3) by Ukraine's Dmytro Vynohradets with his time of 50.54s. Coming in second and third respectively were Spain’s Miguel Angel Martinez and Sweden’s Mikael Fredriksson. The following day saw Maksym Veraksa from Ukraine set a new World record in the Men’s 50m Freestyle (S12) with a time of 22.99s. Veraksa was followed by Russia’s Alexandr Nevolin-Svetov and Spain’s Omar Font Jimenez respectively. On the same day, Great Britain’s star athlete Eleanor Simmonds set a World record in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley (SM6) with her time of 3:11.82.
A European record was set on the fifth day in the Men’s 50m Freestyle (S9) by Tamas Sors from Hungary with a time of 26.09s. The same day saw another European record set in the Men’s 100m Butterfly (S8) by France’s Charles Rozoy with his time of 1:03.27.
The competition was the first big IPC event in Iceland, and successfully took place from 18-24 October, with both Opening and Closing ceremonies, as well as visits from IPC President Sir Philip Craven and IPC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Xavier Gonzalez. The 2009 IPC Swimming European Championships had a total of 650 athletes and staff in the Nordic country, along with 37 participating countries.
The Opening Ceremony was attended by the President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, and the President of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Iceland Sveinn Aki Ludviksson.
“By hosting the Swimming European Championships, Iceland brings Paralympic Sport to this Nordic country as the main event, and thus creates more awareness in the region about the possibilities for Paralympic athletes,” Sir Philip said.
General information about the European Championships and results can be found at www.ifsport.is/ec2009.
For more information about IPC Swimming, please visit www.ipc-swimming.org.
You can also take a look at the ParalympicSport.TV Newsletter for more detailed information on the live stream.
