Hamer wins third gold on another record-breaking day in Berlin

It has been another record-breaking day in Berlin, with Great Britain’s Thomas Hamer the pick of the performances on day three of the World Para Swimming World Series in Berlin, Germany.

The two-time Rio 2016 silver medallist achieved a hat-trick of victories in the German capital city by winning the men's 50m freestyle with 863 points.

“I am very happy with this race, I am working very hard and everything is going well,” he said.

Monica Boggioni’s winning run came to an end in the women’s 50m freestyle, the Italian finishing second to Sweden´s London 2012 champion Maja Reichard (982). The teenager had previously won three events in the first two days of competition.

Boggioni also finished as runner-up with 988 points in the 50m breaststroke, behind the Netherlands´ Rio 2016 bronze medallist Chantalle Zijderveld (1043), who also set a world record of 33.97 for the SB9 class. But there was victory for Italy in the men’s equivalent through Efrem Morelli.

The races are decided by points according to the swimmers’ classes and the time they clock. As these are multi-class races, more than one world record may be set in a single event.

In the men’s 4x100m relay Germany and USA tied for gold. Germany´s team of Julian Hiersche, Torben Schmidtke, Lucas Karle and Julian Erxleben equalled the 587 points of USA´s Joseph Peppersack, David Gelfand, Robert Griswold and Matthew Torres.

Japan’s Airi Ike, Mikuni Utsugi, Yuki Morishita and Sakura Koike (627) took top honours in the women’s race.

Yuki Morishita won Japan’s second gold medal of the day in the women´s 200m butterfly, while 16-year-old Louise Fiddes of Great Britain broke the world record in the S14 class, finishing third with a time of 2:28.64.

With 1013 points, Greek swimmer Dimosthenis Michalentzakis finished first in the men´s equivalent, also setting a world record of 2:09.68 for the S9 class.

Three-time Paralympic champion Oliver Hynd (986) topped the podium in the men´s 400m freestyle and said: “Considering from Rio 2016 until January I did not do much, I am pretty happy with this result and it means I am moving in the right direction.”

Dutch teenager Liesette Bruinsma (936) won gold in the women’s race, where Great Britain also claimed another S14 world record through Jessica-Jane Applegate’s time of 4:27.08.

The competition finishes today (9 July).

Live streaming of the Berlin World Series is available on https://www.paralympic.org and World Para Swimming’s website.

Full results can be found on Internationale Deustche Meisterschaften (IDM)’s website.