After a strong night in the pool at the IPC Swimming World Championships the Ukrainian team increased their lead in the medal standings accumulating a total of 36 medals (14 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze) in the first three days.
Great Britain trails the Ukraine with a total of 30 medals (8 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze) with Russia in third with a total of 23 medals (8 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze).
On the first day of the competition there were three world records set in the prelims an achievement that was matched on day three. Dmitrii Kokarev set the men’s 50 backstroke S2 world record posting a time of 59.42, Zulfiya Gabidullina of Kazakhstan set the women’s 50 freestyle S3 world record qualifying for the final in a time of 47.40 while Marlou van der Kulk of the Netherlands set the women’s 100 backstroke S14 world record finishing in a time of 1:07.02.
There were four more world marks taken down in the evenings’ events. Dutch athletes broke world records in back to back races. First came Marc Evers who won the men’s 100 backstroke S14 in a time of 1:00.96 breaking his own record of 1:01.85 which he set in London last summer.
His performance was followed by another spectacular swim by Marlou van der Kulk. In the prelims van der Kulk broke the women’s 100 backstroke world record by almost two full seconds only to return in the evening to win the event, once again improving on her world mark posting a 1:06.70.
Along with adding six more gold to their total number of medals Ukrainian swimmers broke two world records on the evening. The first record was set by Danylo Chufarov in the 200 IM S12. Chufarove won the event in a time of 2:10.87 beating the record of 2:12.42 set by fellow countryman Maksym Veraksa at the 2012 Paralympic Games.
In the final event of the evening the women’s 4 x 50 freestyle relay world record was set by the Ukraine. The Ukraine relay won the event in a time of 2:37.16.
The home crowd had a chance to cheer on one of their own as Valerie Grand’Maison won the women’s 100 butterfly S13 to become Canada’s first gold medalist of the competition.
Two of the most successful Paralympians of all time, American Jessica Long and Brazilian Daniel Dias, also picked up wins on the evening. Long won the women’s 400 freestyle S8 while Dias won the men’s 50 backstroke S5.
Full results can be found here
