Brazilian swimming stars set to light up Sao Paulo

Seven 2013 Worlds medallists, including Brazil’s top names, to compete at the Open Caixa Loterias Swimming Championships from Thursday (23 April). 23 Apr 2015
Imagen
Andre Brasil competes at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Andre Brasil competes at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

ⒸLieven Coudenys
By IPC

"A significant amount of world and Paralympic medallists including athletes from abroad will compete at the Open and shows the strength of our competition.”

Brazil’s best swimmers have arrived in Sao Paulo for one of the most important competitions on their national calendar, the Open Caixa Loterias Swimming Championships, which begin on Thursday (23 April).

 

Both 10-time Paralympic gold medallist Daniel Dias and 12-time world champion Andre Brasil headline the host team as they continue to prepare for July’s 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Great Britain and August’s Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games.

 

Dias heads out in the men’s S5 classification as the world record holder in all but one of the six events he will enter in Sao Paulo.

 

Brasil also remains one of the fastest men in the water in S10, holding the world’s best time in three events – the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

 

"A significant amount of world and Paralympic medallists including athletes from abroad will compete at the Open and shows the strength of our competition,” said Edilson Alves, Technical Director of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee. “As we seek the best events around the world to test our athletes, they do the same. Brazil is a reference for swimming and athletics. We power these two sports. And the overseas athletes know that they will find good competition here."

 

Evidence of that talent comes in the men’s S4, with Mexican world and Paralympic 50m backstroke champion Juan Reyes returning to the pool after a knee injury forced him out of action in the latter part of 2014.

 

Three Japanese athletes have made the journey to Brazil for their latest competition of 2015 including men’s 50m breaststroke SB3 world champion Takayuki Suzuki.

 

Suzuki was in Berlin, Germany, from 16-19 March for the Internationale Deutsche Meisterschaft where he showed his form with a series of top ten finishes in mixed class events.

 

Sweden’s Maija Reichard, the women’s 100m breaststroke SB11 European, world and Paralympic champion has also chosen to make Sao Paulo a key part of her preparations for Glasgow 2015.

 

Around 250 swimmers from 16 countries will compete at the Conjunto Aquático Caio Pompeu de Toledo venue until 25 April.

 

The Open will run alongside the IPC Athletics Grand Prix which also forms part of the Open Caixa Loterias Championships.

 

Glasgow 2015 will take place from 13-19 July and is expected to attract around 650 swimmers from 50 countries. Tickets and media accreditation are available at Glasgow2015.com.

 

Toronto 2015 begins on 7 August, with 1,600 athletes from 28 countries competing in 15 sports. Tickets are also on sale now.