Paralympic Games, Day 5: Simone Barlaam Sets World Record in S9 50 Free; Two More British Golds

As the Paralympic swimming competition in Paris reached its halfway point with 13 finals contested Monday evening, Italy’s Simone Barlaam provided the highlight performance as he set a world record for the second consecutive night. After setting a record but finishing fifth in an S10 race one day earlier, Barlaam returned to racing among his S9 peers to take down his own mark in the 50 freestyle.

Additionally, Great Britain won two additional golds to bolster its total to 13 times reaching the top step of the podium this week while the United States’ Morgan Stickney and Australia’s mixed 400 freestyle relay team (34 points) each set Paralympic records.

Men’s S7 400 Freestyle

For most of the race, Argentina’s Inaki Basiloff was in position to add 400 freestyle gold to his earlier top prize in the 200-meter race. Basiloff led by a full second through 250 meters, but on the sixth lap, Italy’s Federico Bicelli put on a huge surge that vaulted him into the lead. He would not look back from there, pulling out to an advantage of nearly one-and-a-half seconds on his way to gold.

Bicelli touched in 4:38.70 while silver came down to the closing meters. Basiloff remained a second-and-a-half up on anyone else entering the final length, but Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov, already the silver medalist in the 200 free behind Basiloff, charged home in 33.02 to steal silver by a tenth, 4:40.17 to 4:40.27. The silver medal was Trusov’s second consecutive Paralympic silver in the event after he totaled six medals in Tokyo.

Women’s S7 400 Freestyle

The United States did not win a medal in Sunday’s competition, but Morgan Stickney and McKenzie Coan ended that drought in dramatic fashion with a 1-2 finish in the S7 400 free.

Stickney set a world record in the event at the U.S. Paralympic Trials earlier this year with a time of 4:51.50, and while she did not come close to that mark in Paris, she was utterly dominant. She finished in 4:53.88 to smash the Paralympic record of 4:56.69 she set in prelims.

Coan, meanwhile, moved into second place just after the halfway point and pulled away from Italy’s Giulia Terzi to take silver in 5:10.34. Terzi earned bronze in 5:12.61.

Men’s S9 50 Freestyle

For the second consecutive day, Italy’s Simone Barlaam has recorded a world record. He set one in the S9 100 free Sunday while competing in the S10 final of the event, and he has now broken his own mark in the S9 50 free on the way to gold.

Barlaam won the event by more than a second in 23.90, taking down his own world record of 23.96 from last year as well as the Paralympic mark he set in prelims (24.24). Barlaam also defended the gold he won three years ago in Tokyo and won his second medal after an earlier silver in the S9 400 free.

Neutral Paralympic Athlete Denis Tarasov, who owns the S8 world record at 25.82 but is now competing in the S9 category, took silver in 25.15, while Norway’s Fredrik Solberg secured bronze (25.33).

Men’s S3 50 Backstroke

Ukraine’s Denys Ostapchenko was the winner of three Paralympic medals in Tokyo, including silver in the S3 50 back, and now he has a gold, touching almost two seconds clear of the field in this final in 45.16.

Germany’s Josia Topf, who was victorious in the SM3 150 IM Sunday, came in for silver at 47.06 while Ukraine secured a 1-3 podium finish as Serhii Palamarchuk took third in 50.48.

Women’s S3 50 Backstroke

Great Britain won its medal-table-leading 12th gold in the pool as Ellie Challis improved upon the silver medal she won in this event in Tokyo. She did it in dominant fashion, coming in 4.80 seconds clear of the field in 53.56.

Silver went to Neutral Paralympic Athlete Zoia Shchurova in 58.36, with Spain’s Marta Fernandez Infante winning bronze (1:00.46).

Men’s SB14 100 Breaststroke

A fierce race in the S14 final of the men’s 100 breast saw the top four finishers touch within a second of each other, and even though defending gold medalist Naohide Yamaguchi blasted out to a significant lead at the halfway point, it would not be enough down the stretch as Nicholas Bennett stormed home to win Canada’s first Paralympic gold in the pool.

Bennett was third at the halfway point in 29.80, but in the closing length, he and Australia’s Jake Michel passed Yamaguchi and dueled for gold. Bennett touched in 1:03.98, ahead of Michel’s 1:04.27, his Oceanic record good for his second consecutive silver in the event.

Yamaguchi barely held on for bronze, coming in at 1:04.94 to beat Brazil’s João Pedro Brutos by three hundredths, 1:04.94 to 1:04.97.

Women’s SB14 100 Breaststroke

Great Britain reached 14 gold medals as Louise Fiddes, the silver medalist in this event in Tokyo and already a bronze medalist in the S14 200 free in Paris, passed Brazil’s Debora Borges Carneiro down the stretch to secure gold. Fiddes recorded a time of 1:15.47, 0.55 ahead of the Brazilian’s 1:16.02.

Brazil ended up claiming two meals here as Beatriz Borges Carneiro held off Australia’s Paige Leonhardt by less than a tenth, 1:16.46 to 1:16.55.

Men’s S13 50 Freestyle

Neutral Paralympic Athlete Ihar Boki got the better of a trio of Ukrainians to secure gold in this event. Boki, who won five gold medals for Belarus in Tokyo (including this event), won his third here in 23.65, four tenths off his world record of 23.20 and his Paralympic standard of 23.21.

Ukraine claimed two medals here with Illia Yaramenko taking silver in 23.77 and Oleksii Virchenko securing bronze in 23.85.

Meanwhile, 40-year-old Maksym Veraksa placed fourth in 24.00. Veraksa is the world-record holder and Paralympic-record holder in the S12 category, having set the marks in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and he just missed earning the 13th Olympic medal of his career. Veraksa previously captured gold in the S13 50 free in 2008 and 2012 and bronze in Tokyo.

Women’s S13 50 Freestyle

Maria Gomes Santiago secured gold in this event by three-quarters of a second, delivering Brazil its fourth gold medal of the Paralympic swimming competition after the country went 2-3 in the previous women’s event.

Gomes Santiago recorded a mark of 26.75, just off the world record (26.61) she set in May and the Paralympic record (26.71) she notched in prelims. Gia Pergolini of the United States took silver in 27.51, with Italy’s Carlotte Gilli securing bronze, just beating out Spain’s Marian Polo Lopez (27.64) and the USA’s Olivia Chambers (27.65).

Men’s SB4 100 Breaststroke

Neutral Paralympic Athlete Dmitrii Cherniaev successfully defended his Tokyo gold medal in the event, and he did so by four seconds, blasting a time of 1:32.20 to just miss his world and Paralympic records of 1:31.96 from three years ago.

Greece’s Antonios Tsapatakis took silver in 1:36.16, improving upon the bronze he won in Tokyo, while Italy’s Manuel Mateo Bortuzzo ended up in bronze-medal position at 1:42.52.

Women’s SB4 100 Breaststroke

In Tokyo, Hungary’s Fanni Illes beat out Italy’s Giulia Ghiretti for Paralympic gold in the SB4 100 breast. This time, though, the Italian turned the table, overtaking fast-starting Chinese swimmer Cheng Jiao and holding off a furious finish from Illes, with a second-length split almost a second quicker than Ghiretti’s split, to win gold.

Ghiretti touched in 1:50.21, just four hundredths of Illes’ time of 1:50.25. Cheng faded badly but held on for bronze in 1:51.70, ahead of teammates Liu Yu (1:52.78) and Yao Cuan (1:54.81).

Men’s S2 200 Freestyle

In Sunday’s competition, Brazil’s Gabriel Araujo set a world record in the 150 IM for the SM2 category as he finished fourth in the SM3 final. This time, he had no peer racing four lengths of freestyle, and he recorded a mark of 3:58.92, a new Americas record, to win gold by a whopping 15 seconds.

Neutral Paralympic Athlete Vladimir Danilenko secured silver in 4:14.16, while Chile’s Alberto Abarza Diaz won bronze in 4:22.18.

Mixed 400 Medley Relay – 34 Points

The Netherlands led this relay almost wire-to-wire, but down the stretch, Australian anchor Alexa Leary pulled off an incredible finish to bring the Aussies ahead by one second to win gold in Paralympic-record time.

The team of Jesse Aungles, Timothy Hodge, Emily Beecroft and Leary clocked 4:27.08 for a new Paralympic record, coming in less than a half-second off the world record set by the Dutch team in April.

Unfortunately for the Netherlands, their swimmers could not quite replicate that historic speed at the Paralympic Games, with Olivier van de Voort, Chantalle Zijderveld, Florianne Bultje and Thijs van Hofweegen coming in for silver at 4:28.07.

Spain’s team of Nuria Marques Soto, Oscar Salguero Galisteo, Inigo Llopis Sanz and Sarai Gascon secured bronze in 4:29.39, beating out an Asian-record-setting Chinese team (4:29.56) by less than two tenths.