2024 U.S. Para Swimming National Championships
- December 13-15, 2024
- Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center, Orlando, Florida
- Long Course Meters (50m)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “U.S. Paralympic Swimming Nationals 2024”
Olivia Chambers broke two World Records in one swim on Saturday at the U.S. Para Swimming National Championships, which follows four U.S. National Records on Friday.
Chambers won the 1500 free in 17:48.60 in Saturday’s prelims session, splitting 9:29.21 on the way. Both swims are new World Records in the S13 classification.
The former 1500 free record was her own 17:53.84 from the same meet in the same pool last year; the 800 free record was set by another American Becca Meyers in 2014 with a 9:32.05.
Chambers won a gold medal in the 400 free S13 and silvers in the 100 breaststroke SB13 and 200 IM SM13 at the 2024 Paralympic Games. The 800 and 1500 freestyles aren’t Paralympic events.
“I was definitely not expecting the records today,” said Chambers. “I came here just to see everyone and have some fun. It was a surprise but exciting as always, and I’m just super thankful for everyone around.
“This is definitely the cherry on top. My ultimate goal for the year was just to get to Paris. To come away with a gold and two silvers was really a shock to me then finishing off the year with the record is really a testament to all the work that I’ve put in not just this past year, but since I started the sport.”
Chambers won the 400 free and 200 breaststroke on Friday and the 100 backstroke on Saturday. Chambers is currently a senior on the varsity team at Northern Iowa.
The classification system explained, in brief:
In Paralympic swimming, classes S1-S10 are for athletes with physical impairments, classes S11-S13 are for athletes with visual impairments, and class S14 is for athletes with intellectual impairments. Within each of those ranges, a lower number generally indicates a more severe impairment.
Athletes receive separate classifications for freestyles/backstroke/butterfly events (S#), breaststroke events (SB#), and individual medley events (SM#). They can be the same, or they can be different, depending on the impairment.
In a multi-class scoring meet like this, athletes are given a point value for their swim that is relative to the World Record for their classification. The swimmer with the highest score (closest to the World Record) wins, though they won’t necessarily have the fastest time.
Katie Kubiak broke American Records in the 50 backstroke S4 (42.32) and 50 freestyle S4 (36.46 in prelims) on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Kubiak, who grew up swimming under Paralympic medalist Tom Miazga at Ozaukee Aquatics, is relatively-knew to the Para-swimming scene. She swam her first Para meet in March 2024 after six years away from the sport – she was previously a Wisconsin High School State Championship 6th-place finisher in high school.
That was among a total of five American Records broken so far at the meet.
Aiden Stivers won the 200 breaststroke with a 2:41.15. That breaks the American and Americas Records in the SB9 classification. The prior Americas Record was a 2:52.34 done by Brazilian Matheus Silva in 2014.
15-year-old Koehn Boyd broke the American Record for S10s in the 100 fly, touching in 58.13. That shaved .06 seconds off the old record set in 2014 by Paralympic gold medalist Ian Silverman. He then crushed the Silverman’s American and Americas Record in the 400 IM. Boyd touched in 4:44.28, breaking Silverman’s prior marks of 4:53.24 from 2014.
