Imagen
Gold medalist Anna Stetsenko of Ukraine celebrates on the podium at the medal ceremony for the Women's 100m Backstroke - S13 on day 10 of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

Anna Stetsenko

Swimming
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Having only made her international debut just four months before the 2015 World Championships, few would have predicted the meteoric rise to the top of the women’s S13 carried out by Anna Stetsenko.

The Ukrainian cemented her status as one of the world’s best swimmers at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, where she broke the 20 year old world record in the 50m freestyle.

Stetsenko first made a name for herself in Berlin, Germany, where she broke the 400m and 100m freestyle world record. In July that year, she went on to complete a podium sweep of all her events at the Worlds including her first world title in the 100m freestyle.

However the field was deepening. Swimmers such as the USA’s Rebecca Myers were improving all the time whilst Uzbekistan also produced two notable names in the form of Shokhsanamkhon Toshpulatova and Muslima Odilova.

Stetsenko went up against the Uzbek pair for the first time at the European Open Championships in May 2016, the last major international event ahead of Rio 2016.

They pushed her to another world record in the 100m freestyle and she also picked up a further two freestyle titles. But Stetsenko, who began swimming in 2001, was saving her best performance for the biggest stage possible.

At Rio 2016 her world record performance in the 50m freestyle propelled her to international recognition.

However Myers left with three gold medals of her own and Toshpulatova also sealed a title.

The rapidly improving trio will get the chance to face each other once again at the 2017 World Para Swimming Championships in Mexico City from 30 September.

Results

Unit Date Rank
2015 IPC Swimming World Championships (Glasgow, Great Britain)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Heat 2 2015-07-13 2
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Final 1 2015-07-13 2
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Heat 3 2015-07-14 2
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Final 1 2015-07-14 3
Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 Heat 1 2015-07-15 2
Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 Final 1 2015-07-15 2
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Heat 2 2015-07-16 1
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Final 1 2015-07-16 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S13 Final 1 2015-07-18 1
Women's 100 m Freestyle S13 Heat 2 2015-07-18 2
Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 100 m Butterfly S13 Final Round 2016-09-08 5
Women's 100 m Butterfly S13 Heat 1 2016-09-08 2
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Heat 1 2016-09-10 1
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Final Round 2016-09-10 4
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Final Round 2016-09-12 2
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Heat 1 2016-09-12 1
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Final Round 2016-09-14 1
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Heat 3 2016-09-14 1
Women's 100 m Freestyle S13 Final Round 2016-09-16 1
Women's 100 m Freestyle S13 Heat 3 2016-09-16 1
Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 Heat 2 2016-09-17 1
Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 Final Round 2016-09-17 1
London 2019 World Para Swimming Championships (London, Great Britain)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Heat 1 2019-09-09 2
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Final 1 2019-09-09 2
Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 Final 1 2019-09-10 7
Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 Heat 2 2019-09-10 8
Women's 100 m Freestyle S13 Final 1 2019-09-11 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S13 Heat 1 2019-09-11 4
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Heat 2 2019-09-13 4
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Final 1 2019-09-13 4
Mixed 4x100 m Freestyle 49pts Final 1 2019-09-14 1
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Heat 1 2019-09-15 6
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Final 1 2019-09-15 3
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (Tokyo, Japan)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 Heat 1 2021-08-26 5
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Heat 2 2021-08-27 1
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Final 2021-08-27 1
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Final 2021-08-29 8
Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 Heat 3 2021-08-29 4
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Final 2021-08-30 5
Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 Heat 1 2021-08-30 2
Mixed 4x100 m Freestyle 49pts Final 2021-08-31 3
Madeira 2022 World Para Swimming Championships (Funchal, Portugal)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Women's 50 m Freestyle S12 Heat 1 2022-06-14 4
Women's 50 m Freestyle S12 Final 1 2022-06-14 5
Women's 100 m Freestyle S12 Heat 2 2022-06-16 2
Women's 100 m Freestyle S12 Final 1 2022-06-16 3
Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 Final 1 2022-06-17 1