Multiple world records fell on the first day of competition at the World Para Swimming Series stop in Indianapolis, getting the three-day meet off to a blazing start. This is the first stop on this year’s series in North America, and the U.S-based stars didn’t waste any time making their presence felt in the pool. Five of the world records came from two American swimmers, veteran Leanne Smith and newcomer Katie Kubiak.
Smith, 36, took time away from the sport after winning four medals at the Paris Paralympics. She shook off the competition cobwebs by breaking the world records in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle S3. Only the 100 and 200 freestyle S3 were on the schedule on Day 1; she broke the 50 freestyle S3 mark with a 39.99 split taking out her 100 freestyle S3 world record. The split gets under the 40.03 world standard she posted in Paris last summer.
Her 100 and 200 freestyle world records improved on marks she already owned as well. After her fast start in the 50 freestyle, Smith held on and touched the wall in 1:26.76, taking almost a full second off the mark she swam in Portugal two years ago. Her 200 freestyle world record 3:15.48 as also been on the books for the last two years. She swam a 3:09.65 to erase the mark.
“It’s something I didn’t expect, but switching up my training and taking a solid four months off from swimming was refreshing and much-needed,” she told U.S. Paralympics. “[These records] are emotional for me, but they reinforce that you don’t have to be doing what the person next to you is doing, and that working within your limits is okay and it’s enough.”
While this meet marks a return to the sport for the veteran Smith, it’s Kubiak’s first international meet. Kubiak, a student at NYU, made quite the impression, winning four medals and breaking the world records in the 100 freestyle S4 and 150 IM SM4.
Kubiak swam 1:17.72 in the 100 freestyle, lowering the S4 classification’s world record by 1.56 seconds from the 1:19.28 Paralympic gold medalist Tanja Scholz swam in 2022. As the World Para Series is swum multi-class, determining medals based on a points system, Kubiak got to share the podium with Smith and their fellow American Morgan Stickney, who won bronze.
In her second world record-setting event of the day, she swam 2:32.03 in the 150 IM SM4, breaking that event’s world record by a bigger margin than her 100 freestyle swim, as she took over seven seconds off the mark Liu Yu swam in Tokyo.
She told U.S Paralympics “we came in with very low expectations. I just wanted to come in and have a good time. I’ve never been on a stage quite this big, so I really just wanted to come in and put up the best times I could. I’m really happy with the times I ended up swimming, especially with the schedule I had today.”
Kubiak’s four medals in four events wraps up her event schedule while there’s still two days left in the meet. However, Smith will be back in action for the 50 freestyle, 50 backstroke, and 50 breaststroke.
Five-time Paralympic champion Gabriel dos Santos Araujo was excellent on the men’s side of the meet. The Brazilian superstar returned to competition earlier this year, earning six medals, four of them gold, at the Barcelona stop of the World Series. He nearly matched his total golds from Barcelona on the first day in Indianapolis, winning the 100 freestyle, 150 IM, and 50 butterfly.
Araujo, who competes in the S2 classification, topped the 100 freestyle after earning 1019 points from his 1:58.80 effort. That put him ahead of Australian duo Thomas Gallagher and Callum Simpson, who earned silver and bronze. Then, was back in the water for one of his signature events, the 150 IM, after lowering his world record in the SM4 classification in Barcelona. He did not crack the mark this time but still picked up another gold medal in the event. Finally, he wrapped the day by winning the men’s 50 butterfly S2-S7 event, swimming a 55.73 for 943 points. He was the only man to earn more than 900 points in the event, leading a 1-2 finish for Brazil as Matheus Brambilla took second.
In 2024, Araujo won the men’s overall title for the Para World Swimming series for the second-straight season.
