Griswold Sets Americas Record, 3 World & 4 Paralympic Marks Fall (Day 10 Heats)

2020 TOKYO SUMMER PARALYMPIC GAMES

• When: Pool swimming: Wednesday, August 25 – Friday, September 3, 2021
• Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
• Heats: 9 AM / Finals: 5 PM (Local time)
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EXPLANATION OF PARA CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

• There are 14 classifications for Paralympic swimmers, typically denoted as “S” followed by a number.
• “SB” designates an athletes classification for breaststroke events
• “SM” is for individual medley events
• Athletes with physical impairments are classified in S1-S10, SB1-SB9, and SM1-SM10 with numbers 1-10 ranging from more severe activity limitations to less severe limitations.
• Athletes with visual impairments are classified in S/SB11-13.
• Athletes with intellectual impairments are classified in S/SB14.
• The Paralympics are not the “Para Olympics” or anything similar. The International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee are separate organizations with separate leadership and separate events that happen to have a partnership to organize their crowned jewels more efficiently.

The last prelims session of the Tokyo Paralympics is now in the books with only one more finals session to go in the meet program. Three World records and four Paralympic records were also broken at the conclusion of the session.

Out of the S8 men’s 100 fly heats, USA’s Robert Griswold put up the top time of 1:02.52 to set a new Americas continental record. Rounding out the top three times of the morning were Chinamen Yang Guanglong (1:03.95) and Yang Feng (1:04.24).

Taking down the first World and Paralympic record pairs of the session was Canada’s Danielle Dorris, swimming 33.51 to better the 2008 Paralympic record and 2012 World record in the S7 women’s 50 fly. Now-former event World record-holder, USA’s Mallory Weggemann, placed second in the heats at 34.92, ahead of Italy’s Giulia Terzi (35.40).

Another Paralympic record that has stood since the 2008 Beijing Games bit the dust. Czech Republic’s Arnost Petracek swam 41.75 to crush the standing 42.71 Games record, only two one-hundredths ahead of RPC’s Roman Zhdanov (41.77). Mexico’s Angel Camacho Ramirez placed third in prelims at 43.99.

Swimming the first sub-46 effort in the S4 women’s 50 back in history was China’s Liu Yu, touching the wall at 45.81 and breaking the 2017 World record. Greece’s Alexandra Stamatopoulou (48.36) and China’s Zhou Yanfei (49.93) had the next fastest times in the event prelims.

China’s Li Guizhi broke the 2012 Paralympic record in the S11 women’s 100 free to lead prelims, stopping the clock at 1:05.92 for a new Asian record. Current World record-holder Liesette Bruinsma placed second at 1:07.69 while USA’s Anastasia Pagonis took third at 1:08.92.

Another USA swimmer, Evan Austin, put up the top prelims time in the S7 men’s 50 fly at 29.71, less than two-tenths ahead of Singapore’s Toh Wei Soong (29.90) and Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov (29.91). Qualifying sixth into the final was South Africa’s Christian Sadie, setting a new African record of 30.57.

More Day 10 Top Seeds

• SM10 Men’s 200 IM: Maksym Krypak (UKR), 2:12.78
• SM10 Women’s 200 IM: Chantalle Zijderveld (NED), 2:28.40
• S6 Men’s 100 Back: Jia Hongguang (CHN), 1:14.15
• S6 Women’s 100 Back: Elizabeth Marks (USA), 1:21.76
• S12 Men’s 100 Fly: Raman Salei (AZE), 58.99
• S3 Men’s 200 Free: Denys Ostapchenko (UKR), 3:27.49
• S11 Men’s 100 Fly: Keiichi Kimura (JPN), 1:02.25
• 34 Points Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay: RPC (Gladkov, Smirnov, Grigoryev, Tarasov)