Swimmers take on World Series opener in Copenhagen

Paralympic and world champions will debut in first of six meetings 01 Mar 2018
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a female Para swimmer mid-butterfly stroke

Liesette Bruinsma starts her season at the Copenhagen World Series

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The World Para Swimming season will get underway with the opening World Series on Friday (2 March) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Series continues following a successful debut in 2017, and the competition in Copenhagen will be the first of six stops this year, featuring 215 swimmers across 26 countries competing over 28 medal events. All races will be run as multi-class heats and finals, with winners determined by a standardised points system.

Norway’s Sarah Louise Rung is among the headliners in Copenhagen, as she looks to test her form ahead of the 2018 World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships in Dublin, Ireland. The 28-year-old is coming off a season that saw her win four World Championship medals from Mexico City 2017, including gold in the women’s 100m freestyle S5.

Dutch Paralympic champions Liesette Bruinsma and Marc Evers are also looking for strong starts to the year with Dublin 2018 in mind.

Five-time Rio 2016 medallist Bruinsma enters as the women’s 200m individual medley SM11 and 400m freestyle S11 Paralympic champion, and will take on six events.

Her compatriot and two-time Paralympian Evers will also race over six events, and get to improve upon his third-place ranking from the 2017 World Series. But the men’s 200m individual medley SM14 Paralympic champion will try to see off a rising talent in Great Britain’s 18-year-old rising star Jordan Catchpole. It was last year’s World Series in Sheffield where Catchpole made his international debut in his home pool, and concluded the year with the men’s junior title.

Singapore’s Yip Pin Xiu is also a returning Paralympic champion looking to make a splash in her season debut.

The Copenhagen World Series will run until Sunday (4 March) and will be streamed live on World Para Swimming’s website. Results will be available here.