2016 RIO PARALYMPIC GAMES
- Wednesday, September 7 – Sunday, September 18, 2016
- Swimming: Thursday, September 8 – Saturday, September 17, 2016
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Prelims 9:30 AM / Finals 5:30 PM (local time)
- IPC World Records
- Live stream links: NBC / IPC
- Schedule/Results
British 20-year old Hannah Russell won gold and broke the World Record in the women’s S12 100 meter backstroke on Wednesday night in Rio.
Russell swam 1:06.06, which was almost 6 seconds faster than the Ukrainian runner-up Yaryna Matlo (1:11.97).
The swim from Russell just skated under her own record of 1:06.11 that was set at last year’s IPC World Championships on home(ish) soil in Glasgow.
Russell’s closest competitor globally is Russian Darya Stukalova, who was barred from competing at the Paralympics as part of an overall Russian banishment. That left Russell alone at the top of the mountain, though Matlo’s time was still a season best by more than a second-and-a-half.
Stukalova was also sub-1:07 at last year’s World Championships.
This is Russell’s first medal of the 2016 Paralympics; in 2012, she won silver in the 400 free and bronze in the 100 fly.
The S12 class is the middle of two classes for visually impaired athletes. S11 is for the most severe visual impairments, while S13 is for less severe visual impairments.
