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Aussie Team Favourite Finally On Top Of The World

Aussie Team Favourite Finally On Top Of The World
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Fourteen years after he first raced for Australia, Ahmed Kelly has become a world champion, executing the Men’s 150m Individual Medley to perfection at the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester.

The Australian Dolphins mainstay was one of three victors in green and gold on Day 2, with current world record holder Ben Hance posting a championship record time in the Men’s 100m Backstroke S14 and Tim Hodge claiming gold, also in a championship record time, in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley SM9.

“Being able to win another gold medal and call myself a world champion once more is a great feeling,” said Hodge, who swam 2:12.74, not far off his world record set earlier this year,

“I’m really happy with how the race went. I stuck to my plan and hit a number of key goals.”

Watch the World Para Swimming Championships live on 9Now.

Hance was equally pleased, pointing out that he remains undefeated and vowing to go under 55 seconds, after winning with 57.26s in a broken suit.

“At the turn, my suit ripped at the cord so basically on the way back everything was filling up with water,” Hance said. “It was like resistance training. I thought ‘My goodness, not now’, but I pulled through.”

Kelly’s win was another exceptional effort. His time of 2:58.59 in the SM3 classified race was 20 seconds quicker than the silver medalist and almost five seconds faster than his heat swim of 3:03.19.

“To put it all together and to walk away with the gold medal in front of an amazing team and staff that have worked really really hard … to come away with that, it’s amazing,” Kelly said.

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In other results, Col Pearse and Alex Saffy went two and three in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley SM10, both posting personal best times of 2:13.68 and 2:16.07, respectively. Saffy powered home on the last leg to hit the wall for bronze while Pearse shaved almost seven seconds off his Heat time of 2:19.71.

Jasmine Greenwood and Keira Stephens put up a good fight in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10 with Greenwood finishing fourth in a time of 2:31.94 and Stephens taking seventh with a time of 2:36.41, almost a second quicker than her Heat time of 2:37.37.

Ricky Betar finished 100m backstroke S14 in seventh with a time of 1:10.89, a touch slower than his Heat swim earlier in the day.

Rachael Watson rounded out the field in the Women’s 100m Freestyle S4 with a gutsy swim of 2:30.19, Madeleine McTernan backed up a solid swim the previous day with sixth in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S14 with a time of 1:10.92 and Lakeisha Patterson swam 2:43.82 in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM9.

The haul lifted Australia up to fourth on the medal table, behind Italy, China and Great Britain.

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By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 2 August 2023
Image: Australian Dolphins Swim Team