Tokyo Paralympics Day 4 Records Round-Up: 13 Paralympic Records Re-Written

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.

A whopping 13 Paralympic records and 9 World records were re-written during the fourth day of the Tokyo Paralympics. Among the event highlights, the SB5 men’s 100 breast Paralympic record from 1996 was taken down in prelims before a different swimmer re-wrote it in World record-fashion. The S14 mixed 4×100 free relay World/Paralympic records bit the dust while a trio of continental records followed the winning relay.

DAY 4 Prelims: 3 World, 6 Paralympic Records

In the SB6 men’s 100 breast, Aussie Matthew Levy qualified third into the final with an Oceanian record of 1:22.65.

In the SB6 women’s 100 breast, Maisie Summers-Newton of Great Britain chopped more than two seconds off the 2016 Paralympic record of 1:35.39 with a new European record time of 1:33.12. Taking the No. 3 seed into the final was USA’s Sophia Herzog, setting a new Americas record at 1:35.50.

Canada’s Aurelie Rivard kicked down her own S10 women’s 100 free World/Paralympic records with the top prelims time of 58.60. Rivard’s swim took down her 2016 Paralympic record of 59.31 and 2015 World record of 59.17, clearing 59 seconds for the first time.

In the SM4 women’s 150 IM, China’s Liu Yu broke the 2:41.52 World record from 2017 and smashed the 2:47.57 Paralympic record from 2016 with the first sub-2:40 swim in this event at 2:39.39.

Establishing a new SM1 men’s 150 IM World and Paralympic record was Israel’s Iyad Shalabi, registering a time of 4:52.88. Shablabi’s former mark of 4:57.72 was set in April 2021.

Another Chinese swimmer taking down a record during day 4 prelims was Wang Xinyi, who took down the S11 women’s 100 back Paralympic record at 1:17.66.

Spain’s Antoni Ponce Bertran took down the fifth Paralympic record of the morning prelims, crushing the 1:31.50 former mark in the SB5 men’s 100 breast with a 1:26.72, which stood since 1996.

DAY 4 Finals: 6 World, 7 Paralympic Records

Claiming the bronze medal in the SB6 men’s 100 breast with yet another Oceanian record was Aussie Levy, clocking in a time of 1:21.10.

Brit Summers-Newton re-wrote her own Paralympic/European records en route SB6 women’s 100 breast gold with a time of 1:32.34, taking 0.78s off her prelims records.

Both World/Paralympic records in the S10 men’s and women’s 100 free went down as well. Ukraine’s Maksym Krypak won with a time of 50.64, removing the 2010 World record of 50.87 and the 2012 Paralympic record of 51.07. In the women’s race, Canada’s Rivard once again improved her own World/Paralympic records with a 58.14. Taking the silver for a new European record was Chantelle Zijderveld of the Netherlands (1:00.23).

In the SM4 men’s 150 IM, RPC’s Roman Zhdanov swam 2:21.17 to better his own World record from May 2021 and re-write the 2016 Paralympic record (2:23.12).

It was a tight race for the S11 women’s 100 back gold, yet China’s Cai Liwen edged out teammate Wang Xinyi, 1:13.46 to 1:13.71. Both times crushed Xinyi’s 1:16.40 World record and 1:17.66 Paralympic record. Li Guizhi took the bronze medal at 1:16.98, which was also under the former Paralympic standard.

RPC’s Andrei Granichka (1:25.13) stole the SB5 men’s 100 breast World and Paralympic records from Spain’s Antoni Ponce Bertran (1:26.53) for the gold medal. Ponce Bertran’s former mark was a 1:25.46 from May 2021.

Placing fourth in the SB5 women’s 100 breast final with a new Asian record was China’s Song Lingling at 1:43.73.

Great Britain wrapped the fourth finals session with a new World and Paralympic record in the S14 mixed 4×100 free relay, courtesy of Reece Dunn, Bethany Firth, Jessica-Jane Applegate, and Jordan Catchpole. Three more continental records were also taken down. According to the World Para Swimming records database, Brazilian Gabriel Bandeira led off his relay in a 51.11, which took down the individual 100 free 2019 World record of 51.52.

DAY 4 MEDAL TABLE

RANK	NATION	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1	UKRAINE (UKR)	7	9	1	17
2	RPC (RPC)	7	4	9	20
3	China (CHN)	6	8	11	25
4	Great Britain (GBR)	6	4	3	13
5	United States (USA)	5	2	2	9
6	Italy (ITA)	4	6	4	14
7	Australia (AUS)	4	4	9	17
8	Belarus (BLR)	3	0	0	3
9	Netherlands (NED)	2	4	1	7
10	Brazil (BRA)	2	2	6	10
11	Israel (ISR)	2	0	0	2
12	Japan (JPN)	1	2	2	5
13	Canada (CAN)	1	1	1	3
	Colombia (COL)	1	1	1	3
15	New Zealand (NZL)	1	1	0	2
16	Azerbaijan (AZE)	1	0	0	1
	Chile (CHI)	1	0	0	1
	Ireland (IRL)	1	0	0	1
	Singapore (SIN)	1	0	0	1
20	Spain (ESP)	0	3	0	3
21	France (FRA)	0	1	1	2
22	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	0	1
23	Germany (GER)	0	0	2	2
24	Greece (GRE)	0	0	1	1
	Mexico (MEX)	0	0	1	1
	Uzbekistan (UZB)	0	0	1	1