Latest news with #ParaSwimming
BBC News
8 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Firth named in GB World Para-Swimming squad
Bethany Firth will compete at her fifth World Para-Swimming Championships at September's competition in Singapore from 21-27 six-time Paralympic champion gave birth to her daughter Charlotte last August before setting her sights on a return to the pool, with her selection to the 22-strong GB team will compete in the S14/SB14/SM14 category and joins team-mate Alice Tai with the most appearances at the World Championships with 29-year-old Ards SC athlete has won five golds between the 2022 and 2023 World Championships and is also the 2022 Commonwealth Games' S14 200m freestyle inclusion in the GB team is viewed as a major boost considering her wealth of experience in top level competition."Following the amazing and inspiring success of the team at Paris 2024 I am excited to see both our seasoned international athletes, and a number of athletes new to the senior team compete against the world's best in Singapore in September," said Aquatics GB lead for para-swimming, Adam Clarke."This first World Championships of the post Paris period is a great opportunity to assess where we are in our journey towards the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. "It promises to be a fantastic showcase of our sport in what is an iconic location."
CBC
5 days ago
- Sport
- CBC
Paradise's Gavin Baggs wins N.L's first medal at Canada Summer Games
Newfoundland and Labrador swimmer Gavin Baggs says swimming in front of a hometown crowd is unlike anything he's ever done before — and it culminated in the host province's first medal at the Games being placed around his neck. On Sunday, Baggs won a silver medal in the Men's 400m Freestyle Para. "It's a sense of just honour and pride," Baggs, 18, told CBC News. "This means so much," he said. "It's just an honour to be able to represent my province and absolutely an honour to win a medal for them." The newly renovated Aquarena — a venue built for the last time St. John's hosted the Canada Summer Games in 1977 — was at full capacity for races on Sunday. Now, 48 years and a large-scale renovation later, Canada Games athletes dove back in. WATCH | Gavin Baggs says he's never felt anything like a hometown crowd: 'Just an honour': Gavin Baggs of Paradise wins N.L.'s first medal at the 2025 Canada Games 13 hours ago Baggs, a multi-sport athlete competing in his fourth Canada Games, believes the newly revamped pool will open doors for other local swimmers to have the same opportunity in the future. "For any swimmer in Newfoundland, and any young swimmer in Newfoundland, we have the ability now to train at a high-performance pool. And the Aquarena before was a really great pool. But now that it was revamped for Canada Games, it's just at a whole other level," he said. The first Gold medal of the Canada Games was awarded to Isabella Cooper of Ontario. Cooper, 16, set a new Canada Games record in the Women's 1,500m freestyle. It was a record that had previously stood for 12 years. "I didn't think that would be, like, something that would happen. So I'm just really happy with how that went," Cooper said. "It's a big honour to be able to wear this medal, and I'm very excited to see what happens through the rest of the Games. Another historic moment came in the Women's 400M freestyle S6-S13 event when P.E.I.'s Veronica MacLellan won a Bronze medal, marking just the third time in Canada Games history the province has won a medal in the pool. "I was just sitting there and my coach came up to me, and he was like 'Veronica, you are the third swimmer, like, in P.E.I. to get a medal here.' And I was like 'What? There's no way!' It's crazy. It's like a dream," she said. Swimming events will continue until Friday. Monday will mark Day 2 of competition, with Canoe Kayak, Road Cycling, Rugby Sevens and Sailing set to begin.
CBC
5 days ago
- Sport
- CBC
Canadian Para swimmer Danielle Dorris sets 3rd world record in as many days
Canadian Para swimmer Danielle Dorris made it three world records in three days at the Canadian short-course championships in Sherbrooke, Que., breaking the world mark in the SM7 100-metre medley on Saturday night. Dorris, a 22-year-old from Moncton, N.B., posted a time of one minute 22.57 seconds in the 25-metre pool. She had already set the Americas record during the morning preliminaries in 1:23.50. "Coming into this meet, I was expecting to break a few records, but tonight was a bit of a surprise," Dorris said. "I didn't know exactly what the previous record was, so I didn't know if I could lower it. I'm definitely very happy that it worked, and it's a nice confidence boost before going into [long-course] worlds in Singapore next month." Dorris broke the world record in the S7 50m butterfly — her signature event — twice on Thursday. The two-time Paralympic champion clocked 33.38 in the preliminaries before shaving .27 seconds off in the final. She also holds the long-course world record in the 50 fly, having clocked 32.99 while winning her first Paralympic gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Dorris set the S7 50m backstroke world record in 35.20 on Friday. She will swim the S7 50m freestyle on Sunday to conclude the meet. Dorris was born with underdeveloped arms due to a condition called bilateral radial dysplasia. She made history at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro as a 13-year-old, becoming the youngest Canadian swimmer ever to compete at the Paralympics. Dorris has won three Paralympic medals and six world-championship medals in her career, including a successful title defence in the 50m butterfly at Paris 2024. The World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore will run from Sept. 21 to 27.
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Singapore boost for Poppy Maskill after breaking her own world record
POPPY Maskill will be aiming to maintain her stunning form for next month's World Para Swimming Championships. The Middlewich 20-year-old is one of 22 selected for the Aquatics GB team's bid for success in Singapore. And if her most recent competition is anything to go by, the Manchester Performance Centre star should add to her growing medal collection. Maskill produced a women's S14 100m butterfly world record time during last month's Speedo Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield last month. She first broke the record in winning ParalympicsGB's first gold medal of the Paris 2024 Games, clocking 1.03.00 and she reduced that to 1.02.74 in Sheffield. Maskill, who competes in a class for athletes with an intellectual impairment, is a former Northwich Centurions and Winsford Swim representative. She has been swimming at international level since 2022 when she made her debut at the world championships in Madeira. And her progress was marked when she won a medal in all five of her events at the 2023 world championships in Manchester. This time around, she will head to Singapore – the first Asian venue for the World Para Swimming Championships – as one of Great Britain's queens of the pool. She was ParalympicsGB's most successful athlete at the Paris 2024 Games, claiming three gold and two silver medals on her Games debut. Seven days of racing are scheduled to take place inside the OCBC Aquatic Centre at the Singapore Sports Hub between September 21 and 27. Maskill was among the first British athletes to secure their place on the team back in April following performances at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, while further additions and the final squad have been confirmed this week. Speaking on the selections, Aquatics GB lead for para-swimming Adam Clarke said: 'I would like firstly to offer a big congratulations to all the selected athletes on their selection to the team. 'Following the amazing and inspiring success of the team at Paris 2024 I am excited to see both our seasoned international athletes, and a number of athletes new to the senior team compete against the world's best in Singapore in September. 'This first World Championships of the post Paris period is a great opportunity to assess where we are in our journey towards the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. It promises to be a fantastic showcase of our sport in what is an iconic location.'
News.com.au
22-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Lewis Bishop swims the lows and highs of life on his way into Aussie Dolphins team set for the World Para Swimming Championships
Aussie World Para Swimming Championship selection, Queensland's Lewis Bishop, knows the highs and lows of life like few others. Why? Because he saw rock bottom, a near-death experience 10 years ago which motivated him to strive for one of his proudest moments - winning at bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games 'There were so many years building up to that moment, and the fact that my parents were there was special,'' said Lewis, a butterfly ace. 'It was my first team and I did not have the expectation of winning a medal so the bronze medal was almost unbelievable at the time.'' To think it was just 10 years ago when Bishop, aged nine, went to hell and back. Bishop, now 19, was living in PNG with his mum and dad, Clare and Damon, where his dad worked in the mines and his mother ran a swimming squad for locals. One day he was out on the water knee boarding with family friends when he jumped into the water and got his leg caught in the propeller. The injuries were so horrific, he was at death's door. 'I almost died,'' 19-year-old Bishop said. He was in a critical condition, flown to Townsville hospital that night, and after a week transported to Brisbane. Bishop had his leg amputated below the knee, but the wound became infected and had to be amputated higher up. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what the bottom of the barrel looks like and Bishop saw it. He then continued to push through more adversity before, 12 operations later, Bishop's life started to swing around. 'Within a few months (after the accident) I was walking again, and a few months after that I was active again back in the pool.'' A bit of tough love from mum helped him get back into the pool. 'I'd like to say mum basically tipped me out of my (wheel) chair and into the pool. 'She said 'you are not going to be sitting around because of your disability'. You are going to be active,'' Bishop recalled. 'I learned to do that (swim) before I learned to walk again.'' First stop in the rebirth of his sporting journey was the Somerville House school pool, not far from the hospital where he was staying. 'I don't remember swimming being too difficult. Obviously the kick was not as strong, but I could float and I made it to the other end, so I was happy.'' Joining Bishop in the water was his mum, Clare. 'As soon as his wounds were healed, I took him in a wheelchair up to Somerville House pool and tipped him in and it was the first time he had probably smiled since the accident,'' Clare said. 'We knew the only way forward was to keep him active the best way we could,'' said his mother Clare. 'It was hard. You want to wrap him up in cotton wool, but we also knew the only way forward was to be mentally engaged. And being a sporting boy, we needed to follow his natural inclination (of being involved in sport). 'He loved the water as a baby. I think he swam before he walked,'' Clare recalled. 'He loves a challenge and he took it.'' Bishop's love of the water came from his time in coastal Gove, the Northern Territory, when his father was working in the mines. 'It was amazing fishing,'' Bishop recalled. From there the family moved to PNG where Bishop's love affair with the water continued. So when he was looking to resume a sporting life following his accident, it was only natural that this water baby hit the pool. Bishop, who attended St Bernard's Primary School and then Clairvaux MacKillop College, trains under Josh Smith at Rackley Swimming Hibiscus. Last week his progression continued when he made the world championship squad headed to Singapore in September. Bishop is a part of the Paralympics Australia's Imagine Education Program which educates students about the Paralympic movement, the Games and Para sports. Paralympians like Bishop from the Queensland Academy of Sport visit primary schools to help break down stigma around disability. Currently, only 25 percent of people with a disability participate in sport and Bishop would like to help that to change. Having once looked up to Olympians and paralympians, Bishop is now one of those young men educating the youth of today about disability in sport. 'I hope to inspire the future generation,'' Bishop said. 'When I was in primary school (at St Bernard's School) and a Paralympian had visited, that would have been pretty special. And now I do that. It is an honour to be able to give back.'' For Bishop, he is only in the middle of his sporting dream. It all started in that Somerville House pool when he entered the water from a wheelchair 10 years ago, it continued in Paris at the Games, and it could end in Brisbane at the 2023 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 'I feel like I am just getting started. Brisbane (2032) is coming up on the horizon so I want to stay around for that.'' Bishop dares to dream because he knows dreams do come true. After all, he is alive, isn't he, he can walk and he can swim - very, very well.
