After a one-day break, the 2013 Deaflympics resumed on Wednesday in Sofia, Bulgaria. There were no American medalists on the day, but Matthew Klotz, who has become the star of U.S. Deaf Swimming, was 4th in the men’s 400 free in 4:11.63. That was well behind champion Artur Pioro of Poland, who broke the DeafLympics record in 4:05.01, but it was a new best time for Klotz by 8 seconds.
On Thursday, the Russians again took command early with Ruslan Lebedev and Martin Fomin going 1-2 in the men’s 100 breaststroke in 1:06.94 and 1:07.31, respectively. China’s Zixiang Wang earned bronze in 1:07.38.
Then, in the next race, Russia’s Alena Alexeeva won yet another event (by our count, this is at least 6) taking the women’s 100 backstroke in a new Deaf World Record of 1:06.82. She was followed by Belarus’ Mariya Rudzko in 1:08.24, and fellow Russian Eleonora Brykanova in 1:08.31.
Then in the men’s 400 IM, Klotz added his 3rd medal of the meet with a 4:41.61. That was behind another Russian gold medal from Vitaly Obotin in 4:34.49.
Alexeeva added yet another victory in the next event, this time going a 1:05.055 in the women’s 100 fly. American Peggy Liang in 1:07.40. Also on Thursday, Lian advanced to the finals of the women’s 50 free in 27.51.
China’s Yue Yue He won the women’s 800 free in 9:16.38, followed by Ukraine’s Anna Tovsta. The Russians went a bit cold here, with no swimmers placing in the top 5 but American Sam Elam did win bronze in 9:38.25.
