2016 IPC SWIMMING EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Funchal, Portugal
- Prelims: 9:00am/Finals: 5:00pm (West European) – (4:00am/12:00pm U.S Eastern)
- Sunday, May 1 – Saturday, May 7, 2016
- Event page
- Schedule/Results
With 25 gold medals on offer, day four (Thursday, 4 May) will be the biggest programme of the 2016 IPC Swimming European Open Championships.
Here is a selection of the events to look out for through the live coverage at Funchal2016.com.
Men’s 100m backstroke S2
Russia’s Dmitry Kokarev set a new world record at the last European Championships in 2014 on his way to gold.
However under a year later, his Ukrainian rival Serhii Palarmarchuk beat Kokarev at the World Championships.
Similarly further down the podium, in 2014 Greece’s Aristeidis Makrodimitris occupied the bronze medal position ahead of Poland’s Jacek Czech in fourth. But in 2015, it was Czech who took third.
Expect another close contest in Funchal.
Men’s and women’s 100m freestyle S13
Belarusian five-time Paralympic champion Ihar Boki returns to the 100m freestyle as the world record holder, European and world title holder.
Heading towards his second Paralympic games, the 21-year-old will be aiming to remain the premier athlete across the men’s S13.
In the women’s, Ukrainian world champion and world record holder Anna Stetsenko burst onto the scene in 2015, winning her first World Championships gold medal and tearing down the world best. In addition, she made it onto the podium in all her events and will want to do the same at her first Euros.
However Russia’s Anna Krivshina is the defending champion in the 100m freestyle.
Women’s 100m breaststroke SB14
Spain’s Paralympic and European champion Michelle Alonso broke the world record twice in Glasgow, Great Britain, just two weeks ago, beating Great Britain’s Bethany Firth.
She returned to her form from the London 2012 Paralympic Games when she first set the record, and has shaved just under three seconds off the mark in the intervening years.
Expect Alonso to be fast once again.
Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay 34 points
At the 2014 Euros, Great Britain put on a dominant display to take gold in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
They finished ahead of Russia and Spain and followed that up a year later with bronze at the World Championships.
Swimming news courtesy of IPC Swimming.
