Sophie Pascoe in world record breaking form…again

Swimmer follows up IPC Athlete of the Month win with two short-course world records at New Zealand nationals. 30 Sep 2013

Sophie Pascoe swims the 100m butterfly S10 at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

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By IPC

Pascoe is very quickly becoming one of the greatest athletes New Zealand has ever seen at just 20 years of age.

New Zealander Sophie Pascoe has shown her intent to keep the pressure on her rivals this year, provisionally breaking both the 100m freestyle S10 and 50m butterfly S10 short course world records at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre in New Zealand.

Pascoe, who picked up the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athlete of the Month award for August following a close competition with British equestrian athlete Sophie Christiansen, adds to her three world records from the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada.

Beginning her road to Rio 2016, she collected a medal haul of five golds in Montreal across freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly stroke less than one year after becoming three-time Paralympic champion at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Pascoe is very quickly becoming one of the greatest athletes New Zealand has ever seen at just 20 years of age. In 2008 she became the youngest New Zealander ever to win Paralympic gold at Beijing, whilst also becoming the youngest member of the national swim team at the Games. This was followed up at the World Championships in Eindhoven in 2010 with her first world title coming in the 100m butterfly S10.

Pascoe’s success is a model which clearly works well for the squad, with 20 year-old Mary Fisher also competing at the short course championships after a very successful world championships of her own.

Fisher headed back to New Zealand with five world titles over the 100m backstroke, butterfly and freestyle S11 events as well as in the 200m individual medley SM11 and 50m freestyle S11. She also won a silver in the 400m freestyle S11 in the pool in Montreal, Canada in August 2013.

The New Zealand Short Course Championships began on 29 September and run until 3 October, featuring both able-bodied and para-swimming competitions.