Records Smashed in Morning Session of Swimming Euros

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming European Championships entered their fifth day on Thursday in Berlin, Germany and saw two world and two European records broken during the morning heats.

So far 288 medals have been awarded and a further 69 are set to be contested this evening after heats in nine events took place this morning.

Russia continued its success when world champion Dmitry Kokarev of Russia improved on his own European record finishing with a time of 2:16.36 in the Men’s 100m Freestyle S2 heats. Greece’s Aristeidis Makrodimitris finished with the second fastest time (2:22.70) followed by Britain’s James Anderson (2:31.12).

World Champion Charles Rozoy of France also broke his own European record to qualify for the finals of the Men’s 100m Butterfly S8 with the fastest time (1:01.66). He was followed by 17-year-old Denis Tarasov from Russia (1:05.40) and his teammate Mikhail Sidnin (1:05.86).

The Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB4 saw the world record being broken twice in both heats, first by Ukraine’s Natalia Prologaieva who stole it from Norway’s Sarah Louise Rung with a time of 1:49.91. But Rung didn’t let her keep it for long, and in the second heat the Norwegian finished in 1:49.33. The third fastest qualifier for tonight’s finals was Israel’s Inbal Pezaro (2:06.80).

The finals for the Men’s 400m Freestyle S12 promises to be a two horse race. Russia’s World Champion and world record holder Sergey Punko got the fastest time in the heats with 4:29.58. The second fastest qualifier was Paralympic silver medalist Enrique Floriano from Spain (4:29.77) followed by Ukraine’s Anton Stabrovskyy (4:33.77).

Another closely fought race will be the Men’s 50m Freestyle S10. Spain’s David Levecq, European record holder, hopes for his second gold of the competition. He had the fastest qualifying time of 25.58. Second was Britain’s Graham Edmunds 25.85, followed by Germany’s Lucas Ludwig 26.08.

In the Men’s 400m Freestyle S13 heats Belarus’ Ihar Boki, current world champion and world record holder, got the fastest qualifying time (4:22.70), followed by Russia’s Alexander Golintovskiy (4:27.07) and his teammate Stepan Smagin (4:31.78).

Denmark’s Kasper Zysek swam a close race in the Men’s 400m Freestyle S9 heats, with a very vocal fan group cheering from the stands. He finished with the second fastest qualifying time (4:29.76). He was beaten by Croatia’s Kristijan Vincetic (4:28.44). The third fastest qualifying time went to Italy’s Federico Morlacchi (4:29.91).

Britain’s Stephanie Millward, European record holder, stole the show in the Women’s 400m Freestyle S9 heats finishing with the fastest time (4:50.84). She was followed by Croatia’s Sanja Milojevic (4:52.63) and Britain’s Louise Watkin (5:00.09).

The Netherland’s Chantal Molenkamp got the fastest time in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S10 heats (29.04). She was followed by France’s Elodie Lorandi (30.03) and Spain’s Esther Morales (30.04).