To see all of the 2014 Swammy Award winners, presented by TYR, click here.
2014 Honoree: Jessica Long, USA
After a year spent training with Bob Bowman’s NBAC elite pro group, Jessica Long came out with a wildly successful 2014 season that included winning 4 events at Spring Nationals/CanAms, and wins at Para Pan Pacs in:
- S8 100 fly – 1:10.68
- S8 400 free – 4:42.91
- SM8 200 IM – 2:40.48
- S8 100 free – 1:05.61
- SB7 100 breast – 1:31.48
- 34 point 400 free relay
Head-to-head against the honorable mention Elliott, Long went 4-1 at that meet, which included beating Elliott in the 100 free where the Australian competitor is the World Record holder.
Long also set the S8 World Record in the women’s 200 fly earlier in the year by swimming 2:36.50 – though that’s an event that wasn’t offered at Para Pan Pacs.
Honorable Mentions:
Not by design, but both our honoree and our two honorable mentions for 2014 all happen to swim primarily in the S8 classification. Does that get anybody else excited for Glasgow in 2015?
- Racing at the most competitive para-swimming meet of the year, Stephanie Slater of Great Britain went a perfect 7-for-7 at the IPC European Swimming Championships in early August. Topped upon a silver in the S8 100 free at the Commonwealth Games behind only the above-mentioned Elliott, Slater was a no-brainer as the honorable mention in this category. She’s a new global force to be reckoned with after this was a breakout year for the former elite able-bodied athlete.
- 16-year old Maddison Elliott of Australia followed up a breakout 2013 season with an electric 2014 year that included a gold medal in the women’s S8 100 free at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. That swim came in a new World Record time of 1:05.32.Elliott, who was just 15 for most of the competitive season, also added wins at the 2014 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships in the S8 50 free (31.07) and the S8 100 back (1:18.71). In total, Elliott set World Records in two events: also breaking the S8 50 free mark at the Australian Championships in Brisbane in April.
