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Paris 2024 champions Bennett and Kearney triumph at Sardinia Open Water Cup
British and Canadian Paralympic gold medallists return to action adding more titles to their collection in Italy, Sweden's Pernilla Lindberg defends her title while Venezuela’s Ivanoski Marichal and USA duo Taylor Winnet and Matthew Torres complete the list of winners in the second edition of the World Para Swimming open water event 23 Sep 2024
Newly crowned Paralympic champions Nicolas Bennett of Canada and Tully Kearney of Great Britain added more titles to their impressive month as they were among the six winners of the second the World Para Swimming Sardinia Open Water Cup.
La Cinta Beach in San Teodoro hosted 31 elite Para swimmers from 14 nations on Saturday (21 September) with plenty of participants returning to competition after the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg, Venezuela’s Ivanoski Marichal and USA duo Taylor Winnet and Matthew Torres were the other winners in Sardinia.
Victory in the pool and the sea
Great Britain's Kearney (S5 class), who collected two gold medals at Paris 2024, added another triumph to her impressive season by winning gold in the women's 1.5km race (S3-S6). Her compatriot and also Paris 2024 champion, Ellie Challis (S3) secured silver. Italy’s Caterina Meschini (S6) rounded out the podium with bronze.
In the men’s event, Venezuela’s Marichal (S6) claimed the top spot, followed by Mexico’s Pedro Haro (S6) and Italy’s Giuseppe Cotticelli (S6).
Canada’s Nicholas Bennet (S14) followed up his two golds and one silver from Paris with a victory in the men’s 3km S11-S14 race, beating Finland’s Nader Khalili (S14) and Italy’s Kevin Casali (S14).
“I’m pleased with how it went; the location and course were perfect. There was a little bit of adjustment from pool to open, but not that much since I have a history of open water swimming. Through Covid-19 pandemic, I trained in the ocean when pools were shut down, and did a few open water races as an age group swimmer”, Bennett said.
Lindberg (S14) defended her title in the women’s event, winning gold for the second year in a row. Great Britain’s Jessica-Jane Applegate (S14) earned silver, and fellow Briton Siena Oxby (S14) took bronze.
“It feels great! I have to say there’s been many improvements for the preparations compared to last year. And the water in Sardinia is wonderful and beautiful and I’ve looked forward to this competition”, celebrated Lindberg.
USA reign in long course
The women’s 3km race (S7-S10) saw USA’s Taylor Winnett (S10) improve on her silver from last year by taking gold. France’s Elodie Lorandi (S10) earned silver, and Sri Lanka’s Galina Basnayake (S9) finished with bronze.
The men’s race witnessed a strong performance from USA’s Matthew Torres (S8), who took gold ahead of Mexico’s Jean Ramis (S10) and France’s Hector Denayer (S9). Both Torres and Denayer also collected medals at Paris 2024.
The World Para Swimming Sardinia Open Water Cup was first held in 2023 providing opportunities in top-level open water events for international Para swimmers. Full results of the Sardinia 2024 Open Water Cup can be found here.
