Beyond Tasy Dmytriv’s historic gold in the 100 backstroke, the second day of swimming at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games left a few more finals in the pool. The Spaniards did not reach the podium with them.
New bronze medalist in the 100 butterfly, Enrique Alhambra, missed out on a second and difficult podium in the 100 backstroke S13. He finished fifth in the final with 1:00.86, in a position where he was moving all the time. The great start of the great favorite, Belarusian Ihar Boki, shot him from the start to the gold in a time of 56.60 seconds. Behind him, Russian Vladimir Sotnikov did not hesitate either, second with 57.95. Frenchman Alex Portal lit up La Défense with a bronze in 59.08.
Luis Huerta opened the day with seventh place in the 100 freestyle final in the S5 category. He was well away from the top3 in the morning and had no option of reducing the distances in the afternoon, with a time of 1:19.05. Ukrainian Olesamdr Komarov (1:07.77) and China’s Jincheng Guo (1:08.22) offered an exciting duel with both swimming below the Paralympic record of 1:08.39.
Marian Polo, sixth, and Emma Feliu, seventh, were unable to compete for first place in the 100 backstroke S13. The two Spaniards were playing between themselves for position in a wall that was decided for Polo (1:12.73) by one hundred (1:12.74 for Feliu). Both were behind throughout the race, with Polo struggling especially at the start, but they took advantage of American Grace Nuhfer’s late suffering (1:13.35). At the front, another American, Gia Pergolini, was imperial to win in 1:04.93 ahead of the Irish Roisin Ni Riain (1:07.27) and the Italian Carlotta Gilli (1:08.08).
Óscar Salguero also finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke SB7-8. Vallesano touched the wall seventh, but a double disqualification cost him a place. He clocked 1:12.36 in victory over Russian Andrei Kalina (1:09.02) ahead of Chinese Guanglong Yang (1:09.83, Asian record) and Colombian Carlos Daniel Serrano (1:10.55, Paralympic record in SB7 ). Salguero was sixth after the first pool, but a good exit from the turn allowed him to get behind him in the fight to gain some ground. However, his strength was not with him at the end and he was twenty-five hundredths behind fifth place, for Australian Timothy Hodge (1:12.11).
The day closed with the mixed 4×50 freestyle relay with 20 points. Daniel Ferrer, Sarai Gascón, Marta Fernández and Toni Ponce finished sixth in 2:35.53, with no chance to fight for the podium. China won with 2:14.98, a world record, ahead of the United States (2:18.99) and Brazil (2:20.91).
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
