Records Continue to Fall as Jiang, Hance, Engel, and Araujo Break WRs: Para Worlds Day 2 Recap

2025 World Para Swimming Championships

• September 21-27, 2025
• OCBC Aquatic Centre – Singapore
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Meet Central
• YouTube Livestream Channel
• Results

Day two of the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore delivered another wave of world records, with Jiang Yuyan, Benjamin Hance, Taliso Engel, and Gabriel Geraldo Dos Santos Araujo each rewriting history in their respective events. Great Britain swept the women’s S14 backstroke podium, while the United States added three more golds to its championship tally.

Para Athlete Classifications:

• Physical Impairment: S1-S10
• Visual Impairment: S11-S13
• Intellectual Impairment: S14

Prefixes Explanation:

• S: Freestyle, Butterfly and Backstroke
• SB: Breaststroke
• SM: IM

Day Two Highlights:

Jiang Yuyan followed up her 100 backstroke S6 gold from day one with a world record-setting performance in the women’s 100 freestyle S6. Jiang topped her world-best time from Paris of 1:09.68 with a dominating win in 1:09.58. Finishing over four seconds ahead of Anna Hontar of Ukraine in 1:13.86. 

Australia’s Benjamin Hance defended his Paralympic gold in the men’s 100 backstroke S14, taking gold in Singapore in 56.25. But it was his prelims performance that rewrote history; Hance became the first athlete to ever swim under the 56-second barrier in the 100 backstroke S14, clocking 55.99 for a new world and championship record. Last summer, Hance became the first man to defend 100 backstroke S14 Paralympic gold. 

Taliso Engel (GER) topped his world record-setting swim from Paris in the men’s 100 breaststroke SB13 with a finals time of 1:01.69 in Singapore. In the prelims, Engel notched a new Championship Record of 1:02.42, surpassing that in both world and Championship Record fashion at finals. 

The men’s 150 IM SM3 played host to another new world record; following his SM2 Championship Record effort in the prelims, Gabriel Geraldo Dos Santos Araujo took down his own SM2 world record in finals, finishing 5th overall in 3:16.26, obliterating his world best from March of 3:27.57. Josia Tim Alexander Topf (SM3) of Germany took the event win in 2:55.06 with his final time of 2:55.06.

Katie Kubiak nabbed the 3rd Para World of the meet for the U.S. in the women’s 100 free S4, finishing over six and a half seconds ahead of the field in 1:22.34.

The U.S. also bookended the women’s 400 freestyle S7 podium with Morgan Stickney touching 1st in 4:58.82 (the only competitor under 5:18), and Ahalava Lerrenberger finishing 3rd in 5:22.54.

Defne Kurt charged home to take her 2nd win of the Championships in the Women’s 200 IM SM10. Kurt turned 1st at the 100, Faye Rodgers of Great Britain overtook Kurt on the breaststroke leg, outsplitting her 4508 to 46.32 to take a .75 second lead. Kurt stormed to the wall, touching just .22 seconds ahead of Rogers to win gold in 2:28.30.

Brazil’s Thomaz Rocha Matera put forth an Americas record in the men’s 100 butterfly S11, finishing behind David Kratochivil’s 1:00.83. Rocha Matera earned silver in 1:02.39. 

Great Britain swept the podium in the women’s 100 backstroke S14. The trio of Poppy Maskill (1:05.09), Bethany Firth (1:05.54), and Georgia Sheffield (1:06.27) repeated their podium showing from Manchester in 2023. Maskill’s performance marked a new championship record, topping fellow countrywoman Firth’s 2023 record time of 1:05.80. 

Olivia Chambers earned the U.S.’s 3rd gold medal of the day, touching 1st in the women’s 100 breaststroke SB13 in 1:17.34, nearly a second and a half ahead of Ireland’s Rosin Ni Riain in 1:18.78. The United States managed to medal in every final that the team appeared in on day two of racing. 

Closing out the individual events, Canada’s Mary Jibb, notching a new Americas record in the women’s 200 IM SM9, touching nearly two and a half seconds ahead of the field, winning gold in 2:32.90.

The first relay gold of the meet was won by the Ukrainian team of Anna Hontar, Oleksandr Komarov, Artem Oliinyk, and Hanna Polishchuk clocked 2:18.36 in the Mixed 4×50 freestyle relay 20pts to notch a new championship record, previously held by China of 2:18.58 from 2023. 

Other Day Two Event Winners:

• Men’s 100 Free S4: Ami Omer Dadon (ISR)
• Men’s 50 Back S5: Yuan Weiyi (CHN)
• Women’s 50 Back S5: He Shenggao (CHN)
• Women’s 150 IM SM3: Tanja Scholz (GER)
• Men’s 400 Free S7: Frederico Bicelli (ITA)
• Men’s 100 Free S6: Antonio Fantin (ITA)
• Men’s 200 IM SM10: Stefano Raimondi (ITA)
• Men’s 100 Back S8: Inigo Llopiz Sanz (ESP)
• Women’s 100 Back S8: Alice Tai (GBR)
• Men’s 100 Fly S12: Kylian Portal (FRA)
• Women’s 100 Fly S12: Maria Delgado Nadal (ESP)
• Men’s 200 IM SM9: Timothy Hoge (GBR)

Medal Table After Day Two: