Manchester 2023: Brazil own the night on day three

The night belonged to Brazil as the South Americans claimed four world titles, a birthday world record and twins topping the podium on Wednesday (2 August), day three of the Manchester 2023 Allianz Para Swimming World Championships. 

It is fair to say Maria Carolina Santiago has had a very memorable birthday as she not only won gold but she broke the world record. The Brazilian sent out a clear message of intent in the morning heats of the women’s 50m freestyle S12, when she swam to a new world’s best time of 26.65, before going on to take the title in the evening’s final. 

“The 50m is super difficult because it is too quick and sometimes you think you don’t have anywhere else to take [energy] from, but then you come to the most important competition of the year and you manage to lower your time”, said Gomes Santiago who shaved a further 0.03 seconds off the previous best time which she herself set in March this year.

“In the morning [it] was my best race, my birthday gift. I am really happy.”    

It is her third gold from three events at the meet, making her the one to beat in the women’s S12. The only other athlete that makes it three-from-three in Manchester is Italy’s Stefano Raimondi. 

Emotions were high in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB14 as identical twins Debora and Beatriz Carneiro shared the podium for the first time as they took gold and silver, respectively. 

“I cried a lot and I will keep on crying. I will arrive in Maringa [her hometown] still crying. It was such a joy”, said an emotional Debora following the win. 

“This is my first World Championships gold and to share the podium with my sister is a big emotion. We focused on this time of 1:15, we wrote it down in our notebooks and we got it.”

Both were under the Americas record but Debora pipped her twin by 0.62seconds to win the title.

Brazil’s other golds came from Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos Araujo (in the men’s 100m Backstroke S2) and Samuel da Silva de Oliveira (in the men’s 50m Butterfly S5), both setting new championships records in the process. 

Seven countries join golden club

Another seven countries were awarded their first titles of the meet, meaning that now, champions have been crowned from all continents at Manchester 2023. 

The opening race of the night saw Kamil Otowski win the men’s 100m backstroke S1, gifting Poland their first World Championships gold. Asia enjoyed success in the women’s 100m Backstroke S2 (Yip Pin Xiu) and men’s 100m Breaststroke SB14 (Naohide Yamaguchi), with Singapore and Japan finishing top, respectively. 

Kat Swanepoel claimed the crown for South Africa in the women’s 150m individual medley SM4, ahead of Nelson Crispin defending his title for Colombia in the men’s 200m individual medley SM6. 

The men’s 200m individual medley SM6 final was extra special in that it hosted three brothers, two of which joined Crispin on the podium. The youngest of the brothers, Jesus Alberto Gutierrez Bermudez, outswam his brother Juan Jose for silver whilst the eldest, Raul, settled for sixth place. 

“I’m really proud to have won a medal here in my first World Championships representing my country and even happier because I compete with my brothers”, said Jesus Gutierrez Bermudez. 

Cyprus’ anthem rang out for the first time in Manchester, thanks to Karolina Pelendritou in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB11 and Alex Portal finally got his hands on gold for France (men’s 100m freestyle S13). 

As it stands

Canada, Israel, Ukraine, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary and the USA added more golds to their tally, the latter being a stunning 34th World Championships title for Jessica Long (women’s 100m butterfly S8). 

Once again, China closed the night with a relay triumph (mixed 4x50m medley relay 20pts). As if gold was not enough, Yuan Weiyi, Jiang Yuyan, Guo Jincheng and Cheng Jiao set an impressive new world record (2:27.45). 

Italy still top the podium with 13 golds. China is in hot pursuit with 10 and the host nation, Great Britain, just two behind them.

Great Britain’s only gold from the night came in the women’s 200m individual medley SM6, when Maisie Summers-Newton picked her fifth world title.

“I couldn’t be happier with that right now. I think the crowd is a massive boost to be fair, and it means so much having my family up there in the stands tonight,” said Summers-Newton who turned 21 years-old just last week. 

“It’s great for Para sport as well to be able to show what we can do and the support for all swimmers has been incredible.”

Complete results and all medallist of the Manchester 2023 Allianz Para Swimming World Championships can be found here.

The Manchester 2023 Allianz Para Swimming World Championships is streamed live on World Para Swimming website and Facebook channel with geo-blocking restrictions in certain territories – you can find more information about where to watch the competition here. Pictures from Manchester 2023 are available for editorial use on Flickr.