Athletes from 16 countries gear up for Sao Paulo

Around 430 leading athletes, including 110 from 15 countries outside of Brazil, will be in Sao Paulo this week (24-26 April) to compete in the Open Brasil Caixa Loterias Athletics and Swimming competitions. 23 Apr 2014
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Terezinha Guilhermina and her guide run on the track of Lyon with the tribunes of the stadium in the backround

Terezinha Guilhermina won three world titles at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon 2013

By IPC

Amongst the countries sending their leading athletes to Sao Paulo this week are Angola, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and USA.

The track and field component of the event will act as the third IPC Athletics Grand Prix event of 2014, whilst the swimming competition is regarded as one of the best international meets of the season.

Of the 55 foreigners who will compete in athletics, 35 were at the 2013 World Championships in Lyon, France, and 22 of them were medallists.

The lineup includes the USA’s 100m T44 world record holder Richard Browne, the world and Paralympic silver medallist who, last Saturday (19 April), set a new unofficial 200m T44 world record with a time 21.91 seconds.

He will be joined by teammate David Prince, a former 200m T44 world record holder, who at Lyon 2013 won 400m T43/44 bronze.

Veterans and multi-Paralympic champions Terezinha Guilhermina and Lucas Prado will also be competing in Sao Paulo alongside relative newcomers Lorena Spoladore and Verônica Hipólito who both won world titles at Lyon 2013.

In the men’s T46 class, homegrown hero Yohansson Nascimento will go head-to-head with Australia’s Gabriel Cole over 100m. Cole took silver in Lyon, whilst Nascimento took the bronze.

Nascimento will also face a hard race over 200m, the distance he holds the world title in, when he faces Cuban world bronze medallist Raciel Gonzales.

In the pool, of the 56 visiting athletes, 13 competed at last year’s IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada, and 12 had podium finishes.

Representing the host nation will be all four Brazilian swimmers who won world titles last year – Andre Brasil, Daniel Dias, Susanna Ribeiro and Roberto Rodriguez .

Between them, the four swimmers won 10 world titles in Montreal and be looking to continue their form during 2014 as they prepare for next year’s Toronto Parapan American Games.

After recently becoming a father for the first time, 25-year-old Dias will be looking to show his home crowd in Sao Paulo exactly why he is Brazil’s most successful para-swimmer of all-time having won 10 Paralympic and 16 world titles since making his international debut in 2006.

World champion Brasil will face stiff competition against world silver medallist Russian Grigorev Dmitry in the S10 class whilst world silver medallist Talisson Glock’s rivalry with Australian world bronze medallist Matthew Levy is likely to intensify at the Clube Hebraica.

Amongst the countries sending their leading athletes to Sao Paulo this week are Angola, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and USA.

Brazil will be represented at the Open Brasil by 88 athletes and 13 athlete-guides.

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