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Australian swimmers had a light schedule on the second day of competition at La Defense Arena with only two individual swims and a relay on the program.
After the hype and excitement of the first night, the team was looking to make an impact on night two, but it wasn’t to be.
Keira Stephens was the first to progress to the night’s finals in the women’s SB9 100m breaststroke, the event in which she took the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020. Chantalle Zijderveld of the Netherlands charged home in the final to take gold in 1:13.74 with Meng Zhang of China claiming silver in 1:15.05.
The race for third was tight with Stephens just missing out on defending her Tokyo medal by 0.5s to Lisa Kruger of the Netherlands who claimed bronze in a time of 1:17.14.
Tim Hodge was up next in the men’s SB8 100m breaststroke, posting 1:12.11 to come fifth, trailing the gold medallist of Andrea Kalina of the Neutral Paralympic Athletes by 3.09s.
Hodge, who’s program still includes the S9 100m backstroke, S9 100m butterfly and pet event where he is currently the world record holder, the SM9 200m individual medley, said he was happy with the swim after posting his second fastest time in the race.
Finally, for the first time since Rio 2016, Australia contested the 20 point relay (where classification numbers cannot add up to more than 20 points) with Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson (S3), Ahmed Kelly (S3), Holly Warn (S7) and Chloe Osborn (S7) defying the odds to make the finals and posting an Oceania Record time of 2:52.55 in the process. Though they finished last in the final, the team enjoyed the experience.
The program for Saturday includes seven Aussie swimmers, including with Jenna Jones in the women’s S12 100m backstroke, Jack Ireland and Ricky Betar in the men’s S14 200m freestyle, Madeleine McTernan and Ruby Storm in the women’s S14 200m freestyle, Jesse Aungles in the men’s S8 100m backstroke and Ella Jones in the women’s S8 100m backstroke.
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By: Jodie Hawkins, Paralympics Australia
Published: 31 August 2024
