Sprint King Crothers Fires First Shot For Australia

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Paralympic gold medallist Rowan Crothers has defended his 50 metres freestyle S10 world crown edging out compatriot Tom Gallagher in a blistering Final on the first night of the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester.

Crothers later posted on social media: “50m Freestyle World Champion. Number 1 in the world for 3 years running”, pointing out his sprint dominance on the big stage, which includes gold at the Tokyo Games and at last year’s World Championships.

50m Freestyle World Champion.
Number 1 in the world for 3 years running. pic.twitter.com/nPGavCvojw
— Rowan Crothers OAM 🧲🧠 (@magnetbrain) July 31, 2023

Coming into the race Gallagher had swum the fastest time of the year, with 23.72s, compared to Crothers’ 24.16s, which placed him fourth.

However, experience proved key as Crothers rose to the occasion, dropping his time to 23.42s to take gold ahead of Gallagher who claimed silver with 23.70s.

The sprint king will later try to defend the 100 metres freestyle S10 gold he won at last year’s championships.

Crothers and Gallagher were among five Australians who won medals on Day 1.

1-2 podium for Australia 🇦🇺🎉

🥇Rowan Crothers is the winner in the men’s 50m freestyle S10 (⌚️23.42) and shares the podium with his teammate🥈Thomas Gallagher 🇦🇺

🥉Philipe Rodrigues 🇧🇷

🔴 LIVE: https://t.co/w24SWkJyae #Manchester2023 pic.twitter.com/cO1cmV3iEF
— #ParaSwimming (@Para_swimming) July 31, 2023

Jenna Jones swam a personal best of 1:12.27 to win the silver medal in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S12, Keira Stephens won bronze in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke S9 and Jack Ireland won his first world championship individual medal with bronze in the Men’s 200m Freestyle S14.

Ruby Storm and Madeleine McTernan finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Women’s 200m Freestyle S14, while Paige Leonhardt’s Heat swim wasn’t enough to make the Final.

In the last event of the night, Jasmine Greenwood placed fifth in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S10 with a time of 28.43.

Powerhouse Para-swimming nation Italy leads the medal tally with six golds, placing them well to repeat the past two Worlds (London 2019 and Madeira 2022) where they topped the table. Great Britain and Canada won four each, China won three, Ukraine and the Netherlands took two each and Australia was one of five nations to claim one gold medal.

Day 2 of the World Championships features several more of Australia’s top Para-swimmers, including Paralympic champions Rachael Watson, Ben Hance and Lakeisha Patterson.