Hynd storms to gold at Glasgow 2015

“I can’t describe it in words. I’m so happy. Last year European champion, now world champion, it’s amazing.”

Paralympic champion Ollie Hynd claimed hosts Great Britain’s first gold medal at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow on Wednesday (15 July) by retaining his world title in the 200m individual medley SM8.

Hynd (2:22.40) set a new European record to top the podium ahead of Russia’s Konstantin Lisenkov (2:26.62) and China’s Maodong Song (2:26.89).

However, Hynd felt that he could have done even better: “I’m a little bit disappointed with the time, I thought I had a little bit more in me. The world record is still there, it’s nice to have it as an incentive for me to keep pushing forward. Getting that fly a little bit snappier would have made the difference.”

Belrusian Ihar Boki (56.74) set his second world record of the meet to win his third world title of the week in the men’s 100m backstroke S13. Boki’s win never looked in doubt but the 21-year-old was hungry for the record and pushed himself to the wall. Ukraine’s Iaroslav Denysenko (59.08) secured silver whilst Australia’s Sean Russo (1:01.10) completed the top three.

Mexico’s Nely Miranda Herrera (3:06.48) cried tears of joy on the podium as she collected her gold medal for victory in the women’s 150m individual medley SM4. The Ukrainian duo of Mariia Lafina (3:07.31) and Olga Sviderska (3:08.32) picked up silver and bronze respectively, with a new SM3 world record for Sviderska.

Russia finished a great day in the pool by doubling their world record count to four and winning seven gold medals.

After setting a world record in the morning’s heats, Valeriia Shabalina (2:04.98) lowered the record by more than a second in the final of the women’s 200m freestyle to take the gold. Great Britain’s 2013 world champion Jessica-Jane Applegate (2:06.98) was second, and Dutchwoman Marlou van der Kulk (2:11.73) third.

As well as taking New Zealander Cameron Leslie’s world title in the men’s 150m individual medley SM4, Roman Zhdanov (2:25.24) also took his world record. Leslie (2:26.55) finished with silver as China’s Zhipeng Jin touched in with a new Asian record time of 2:36.90 for bronze.

Darya Stukalova (1:06.75) was just a finger-tip ahead of Great Britain’s 2013 world champion Hannah Russell (1:06.79) to take gold in the women’s 100m backstroke S12. Spain’s Maria Nadal Delgado (1:14.51) was third.

“I’m really happy with silver,” Russell said. “It’s all those small technical things that I need to go away and work on with my coach and see what I can tweak.”

Andrey Gladkov (4:46.72) touched in ahead of Norwegian Andreas Bjornstad (4:58.60) and Ukrainian Marian Kvasnytsia (5:00.73) in the men’s 400m freestyle S7.

Gladkov’s teammate Anna Krivshina (1:07.78) was pleased with her gold in the women’s 100m backstroke S13. Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko (1:09.68) and the USA’s Colleen Young 1:12.88 touched in for silver and bronze respectively.

Alexander Nevolin-Svetov (1:00.62) took the title in the men’s 100m backstroke S12. Ukraine’s Sergii Klippert (1:01.28) and the USA’s Tucker Dupree (1:01.36) sealed silver and bronze respectively.

Viacheslav Emeliantsev (1:56.87) rounded off the Russian gold rush in the men’s 200m freestyle S14 over Iceland’s Paralympic champion Jon Margeir Sverrisson (1:58.06). Great Britain’s teenager Thomas Hamer (1:58.42), 16, won his first World Championships medal with bronze.

A new dawn broke in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9, as Dutch 14-year-old Chantalle Zijderveld (1:17.96) stormed to her first career world title after taking the European crown in 2014.

Zijderveld controlled the whole race, finishing ahead of China’s Meng Zhang (1:18.81) who set a new Asian record for silver. New Zealand’s 2013 world champion Sophie Pascoe (1:19.74) just edged to bronze.

A visibly emotional Zijderveld said: “I can’t describe it in words. I’m so happy. Last year European champion, now world champion, it’s amazing.”

Brazil’s most prolific Paralympian, Daniel Dias (2:27.28) maintained his 100 per cent record, winning his third gold medal in the men’s 200m freestyle S5. Glasgow’s own Andrew Mullen (2:41.35) put in an exceptional performance to take silver and the USA’s Roy Perkins (2:45.41) took bronze.

Norway’s Sarah-Louise Rung (2:53.20), the world and Paralympic champion, was dominant in the women’s 200m freestyle S5. Israel’s Inbal Pezaro (2:57.18) led Spaniard Teresa Perales (3:03.59) onto the podium.

“It’s not very often that we hear the Norwegian national anthem so it’s a great feeling to be able to share that with the rest of the crowd,” Rung said.

New Zealand’s world champion Mary Fisher (1:19.77) won her second gold of the week in style in the women’s 100m backstroke S11. The 22-year-old swam her way to a Championships record ahead of Germany’s Daniela Schulte (1:21.33) and Ukraine’s Maryna Piddubna (1:25.18).

World champion Kevin Paul (1:04.50) won South Africa’s first gold of the Championships in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB9 in a new Championships record time. Russia’s Pavel Poltavtsev (1:05.83) was second, whilst Australian Rick Pendleton (1:09.04) set a new Oceania record.

US superstar Jessica Long (2:40.08) put in an incredibly strong freestyle leg to claim the gold in the women’s 200m individual medley SM8 ahead of Russia’s Oleysa Vladykina (2:41.06). Long overtook Vladykina to post a final length that was over four seconds faster than the Russian’s. China’s Weiyun Lu (2:52.62) was third.

“I was angry,” Long said. “She [Vladykina] had worked more on her breaststroke. I’m not thrilled, I would have liked to have been faster. I knew exactly what I needed to do to push ahead.”

The USA’s Cortney Jordan (5:22.50) retained her world title in the women’s 400m freestyle S7, her second gold medal of Glasgow 2015. New Zealand’s Rebecca Dubber (5:25.34) and Russia’s Ani Palian (5:30.26) completed the podium.

World and Paralympic champion Ukrainian Dmytro Zalevskyy (1:08.42) stepped onto the top of the podium in the men’s 100m backstroke S11 in a new Championships record time. His teammate Viktor Smyrnov (1:09.59) was second and Poland’s Wojciech Makowski (1:11.83) third.

Zalevskyy’s teammate Dymtro Vynohrahdets (3:01.28) was first in the men’s 150m individual medley SM3, leading Australian Grant Patterson (3:08.94) and Mexico’s Arnulfo’s Castorena (3:17.70) onto the podium.

World and Paralympic champion Oksana Kruhl (37.33) won the women’s 50m butterfly S6 to complete a Ukrainian golden trio. Australian Tiffany Kane (38.17) expanded her burgeoning medal collection with silver and China’s Dong Lu (38.46) took bronze.

The Chinese duo of world champion Tao Zheng (31.17) and Paralympic champion Qing Xu (31.25) completed a one-two in the men’s 50m butterfly S6. Great Britain’s Sascha Kindred (32.01) took bronze, proving that he still amongst the best even at his seventh world championships.

“At 37 and still making a PB [personal best], I’m chuffed with that,” Kindred said. “I wasn’t even expecting a medal, my main event is on Friday so I’m looking forward to that.”

At the end of day three, Russia have extended their lead at the top of the medals table to 30. They are followed by Ukraine who have 28 medals overall, including 10 golds. The USA held on to third place with 13 medals, eight of which are gold.

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The 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, which run until 19 July, will feature around 580 athletes from nearly 70 countries and will be one of the biggest qualification opportunities for Rio 2016.

Tickets are still available and all seven days of action will be shown live at Glasgow2015.com alongside live results between 13-19 July.

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