GLASGOW, Scotland – Aurelie Rivard will be looking to win her third medal of the meet in Saturday night’s finals at the IPC Swimming World Championships.
Rivard, of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., swam a Canadian record one minute, 0.34 seconds to take the fastest time into the final of the S10 100-meter freestyle. That broke the old record of 1:00.75 she set in the same pool earlier this year during the British Para-swimming International Meet.
“I didn’t push so hard and it’s still a record, so I am really delighted with that,” said Rivard, who has won a gold and silver already this week. “I can go harder tonight.”
Rivard will be one of seven Canadian individuals plus the men’s 4×100-m 34-point individual medley relay in the finals. They will be looking to add to Canada’s eight medals (one gold, three silver, four bronze.)
Veteran Adam Purdy, who returned to swimming in 2014 after a seven-year absence, advanced to the final of the S6 100-m backstroke with the fourth-best time of one minute, 20.32 seconds.
“It’s a brilliant spot for me,” said the three-time Paralympian “There are a lot of fast swimmers in the backstroke. A lot of the double-arm amputees you never know what they can do.
“Going in fourth it’s a nice position for me to be able to gauge the scene and see where things are at.”
Canada will have two swimmers in both the men’s S10 100-m freestyle and the women’s S7 100-m backstroke.
Sarah Mehain of Vernon, B.C., was clocked in 1:32.02 for the fifth fastest time in the backstroke. Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., was sixth in 1:33.23.
“That felt like a good race, strong,” said Mehain who won a bronze Friday in the 50-m butterfly. “I think I have a little bit left in me to really take it home in the final tonight and get an even better time.”
Nathan Stein of Maple Ridge, B.C., was fourth in the heats for the 100-m freestyle in 55.72 seconds. Alec Elliot of Waterloo, Ont., was sixth in 55.82.
Sabrina Duchesne of Quebec City swam a personal best time of 1:31.28 to be eighth in the S8 100-m backstroke.
The relay team of Elliot, James Leroux, Jean-Michel Lavalliere and Zack McAllister finished qualified fifth with a time of 4:33.31.
Nicolas Turbide of Quebec City was 15th in the S13 100-m freestyle in 57.52 seconds.
The competition, which ends Sunday, has attracted 580 athletes from close to 70 countries to the Tollcross International Swimming Centre. It’s the largest swimming competition before next year’s Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janerio.
All heats and finals will be shown live at http://www.paralympic.org/glasgow-2015Glasgow2015.com. Results can be found at www.paralympic.org/glasgow-2015/schedule/results.
Swimming news courtesy of Swimming Canada.
