Open Water Event Concludes 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships
Bonn, Germany – After six days of competition inside the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium, the 2010 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships finished with the Open Water event at E3 Beach in Eersel, the Netherlands.
South Africa’s Natalie DuToit dominated the women’s S1-S10 race winning in a time of 1:00:22.00, more than six minutes ahead of Elodie Lorandie (FRA) and Sanja Milojevic (CRO). In the women’s S11-S13 race, Taigan van Rosmalen (NED) was the only competitor and finished in a time of 1:17:35.51.
Sergey Punko (RUS) was the fastest of all competitors, finishing in a time of 59:58.19 and winning the men’s S11-S13 race, ahead of Spain’s Enrique Floriano and Germany’s Robert Doerries. Australia’s Brenden Hall won the men’s S1-S10 race in a close finish with just 3.71 seconds ahead of Emanuel Goncalves (POR). Joe Wise (USA) came in third.
With a total of 649 athletes from 53 countries competing in 181 medal events, the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships were the biggest ever. During the six days of competition inside the Pieter van den Hoogenband stadium, more than 6,500 spectators came to watch the outstanding performances by the swimmers.
Ukraine topped the medal tally with 58 medals overall, of which 21 were golden. USA took second place in the tally with 20 gold medals, just one ahead of Russia, which won 19 gold medals. USA’s Mallory Weggemann (S7) was the most successful athlete of these World Championships, winning eight gold medals and breaking nine world records.
Said Xavier Gonzalez, IPC Chief Executive Officer, “The IPC is very proud to announce that these have not only been the biggest IPC Swimming World Championships ever but also the most successful.”
The 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships were also a huge success in terms of media coverage. More than 100 accredited journalists were present to cover the Championships.
Channel 4 from Great Britain, national rights holder for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, covered the Championships live on 19 August via a live stream on their website. A highlights summary will be broadcast in Great Britain on 30 August. ABC from Australia broadcasted a 30-minutes highlights summary every day on ABC 2, while Globo TV from Brazil covered the Championships every day live on its Sports channel Sport TV. TVE from Spain received 18 minutes of highlights every day. Dutch cable TV channel GoedTV offered daily live coverage of the Championships.
ParalympicSport.TV, the internet TV channel of the IPC, broadcasted a daily live stream of the heats and finals. The races can now also be viewed as videos on demand on www.ParalympicSport.TV.
For more information on the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships, please visit the official event website at www.wcswimming2010.com.
For full results of the event, please visit www.paralympic.org/Live_Results_FTP.
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Notes to the Editor:
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International Federation for nine sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions. The IPC is committed to enabling Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and to developing sport opportunities for all persons with a disability from the beginner to elite level. In addition, the IPC aims to promote the Paralympic values, which include courage, determination, inspiration and equality.
Founded on 22 September 1989, the IPC is an international non-profit organization formed and run by 167 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) from five regions and four disability specific international sports federations (IOSDs). The IPC Headquarters and its management team are located in Bonn, Germany.
For further information, please contact Eva Werthmann, IPC Media Manager on e-mail: eva.werthmann@paralympic.org or go to www.paralympic.org or www.paralympicsport.tv.
