Ukraine Extends Lead at Top of Berlin Medals Table

Ukraine extended their lead at the top of the medals table with a superb showing on the second evening of the 2011 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming European Championships in Berlin, Germany.

After winning 14 medals on day one, the Ukrainians added seven gold, five silver and two bronze medals on day two to bring their overall tally to 28. Great Britain maintained second place with 27 medals, including nine golds, four of which were won on Tuesday. Spain moved up to third place after winning an impressive five gold medals on the second day to bring their gold collection up to 8.

In total there were three world and five European records broken on the second day of competition in the German capital. This brings the total number to eight world and eight Europeans records..

The finals got off to an explosive start with Ukraine’s Yevheniy Bohodayko taking nearly three seconds off the world record in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB6. His time of 1:22.39 secured gold ahead of Germany’s Christoph Burkard (1:27.44). The previous world record holder Mihovil Spanja (1:28.38) of Croatia came third.

Two good friends, Great Britain’s Charlotte Henshaw and Liz Johnson went head-to-head in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB6, with Paralympic champion Johnson (1:38.89) coming out on top in a personal best time. World silver medalist Henshaw (1:39.98) claimed silver and Turkey’s Ozlem Baykiz (1:51.10) took bronze.

Great Britain celebrated a second gold of the evening in the very next race with Thomas Young (1:24.13) leading home Ukraine’s Iaroslav Samenenko in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB7. Germany’s Tobias Pollap (1:28.72) came third.

European record holder Lisa den Braber (1:35.60) of the Netherlands came out on top in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB7 pushing Ukraine’s Oksana Khrul (1:39.21) and Great Britain’s Emma Hollis (1:41.42) into silver and bronze respectively.

Eight time Paralympic champion, Sebastian Rodriguez (33.59) cruised to victory in the Men’s 50m Freestyle S5 to secure Spain’s fourth gold medal of the Championships. The European record holder finished ahead of France’s Hayri Simsek (34.25) silver and Ukraine’s Dmytro Kryzhanovskyy (34.91) bronze.

Ukraine’s second gold medal of the night was secured by Natalia Prologaieva in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S5. The world champion’s time of 36.89 was enough to see off Spain’s world record holder Teresa Perales (37.20) and France’s Anita Fatis (37.53) who took the silver and bronze medals.

After claiming silver at last year’s World Championships in the Netherlands, Jennie Ekstrom (1:15.35) won Sweden’s second gold medal of the event with an emphatic victory in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke SB2. The 20 year always looked like winning from the start and beat Germany’s Vera Thamm (1:22.99) into silver. Bronze for Cecillie Kristiansen (1:36.27) was Denmark’s first medal in Berlin.

The eighth and ninth races of the evening saw a gold rush for Spain. Two-time Paralympic champion Miguel Luque (50.63) claimed his country’s second gold of the day in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke SB3. In a thrilling finish he edged ahead of the Netherland’s Michael Schoenmaker (51.01) who took silver and his own teammate Vicente Gil (51.50)

In the very next race Anna Ortiz Sanchis (29.67) made it a Spanish hat-trick of gold medals in Tuesday’s finals session. A thrilling finish involving four swimmers in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke SB3 saw the 20 year old claim gold ahead of Russia’s Natalia Popova (30.12) in silver and Lisette Teunissen (30.13) of the Netherlands in bronze.

Great Britain’s Daniel Pepper (2:01.27) can now boast to be the World and European champion after winning the Men’s 200m Freestyle S14. The Netherlands’s Marc Evers (2:01.42) took silver while bronze went to Pepper’s teammate Ben Procter (2:03.30) who had led at the halfway point.

The Netherlands’s Marlou van der Kulk (2:14.74) also repeated Pepper’s feat by adding the European title to the gold she won at last year’s World Championships in the Women’s 200m Freestyle S14. She finished ahead of Great Britain’s Natalie Massey (2:15.03) and Magda Toeters (2:16.30) also of the Netherlands.

The world’s fastest para-swimmer, Ukraine’s Maksym Veraksa (1:07.75), secured his second gold medal of the competition with victory in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB12. In a tight finish he held on to push Belarus’s Uladzimir Izotau (1:08.14) in to silver and his own teammate Oleg Tkalienko (1:11.22) into bronze.

Cyprus secured their first medal of the Championships through Karolina Pelendritou (1:18.68) in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB12. The world record holder was in control throughout and finished ahead of Ukraine’s Yaryna Matlo (1:20.09) and Spain’s Deborah Font (1:22.86).

The Men’s 200m Individual Medley SM9, saw Ukraine’s Andriy Kalyna (2:17.03) break the European record to take the top spot on the podium. He beat off Great Britain’s James Crisp (1:19.85) and Hungary’s Tamas Toth (1:20.43).

Another European record fell in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM9. In an absolute thriller of race which had the majority of the crowd on their feet, Great Britain’s Louise Watkin (2:35.99) powered home ahead of Spain’s Sarai Gascon (2:36.48) who also finished under the old European record time. The previous record holder, Claire Cashmore (2:26.11) of Great Britain, had to settle for bronze.

The 16th race of the evening saw Ukraine win their fifth gold medal of the day and their 10th overall. Oleksii Fedyna broke his own world record as he stormed home in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB13. Left in his path to win silver and bronze was Belarus’s Dzmitry Salei (1:08.20) and Russia’s Mikhail Zimin (1:08.50)

Spain secured their fourth gold of the night through Begona Curero (1:25.36) in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB13. In a close finish she just beat Ukraine’s Iryna Balashova (1:25.60) and Marta Maria Gomez Battelli (1:26.11) who picked up the silver and bronze medals.

It may have taken 43 finals for Belgium to secure their first medal of the 2011 IPC Swimming European Championships but it was worth it for world bronze medalist Sven Decaesstecker (2:15.48) who won gold in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley SM10. Sensational home support for Berlin resident Lucas Ludwig (2:17.01) was not enough to propel him to the top of the podium but it did inspire the German to claim the silver medal. Bronze went to Great Britain’s Robert Welbourn (2:17.99).

It is two gold medals in two days for France’s Elodie Lorandi (1:35.63) after her victory in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10. Despite been nearly two seconds down at the last turn, she overtook silver medalist Nina Ryabova (1:38.81) of Russia in the final 50m to set a new European record. Great Britain’s Gemma Arnold (1:42.12) took bronze.

Maurice Deelen’s (26:54) position as European record holder in the Men’s 50m Freestyle S8 was short lived. The Dutchman broke the record in this morning’s heats but had to watch from silver medal position as Russia’s Denis Tarasov (26:48) won gold shaving 0.21 seconds off the Deelan’s previous best time. Bronze went to Tarasov’s teammate, Konstantin Lisenkov (27.23).

Russia had further success in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S8. Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games ambassador Olesya Vladykina won gold (31.57) ahead of Great Britain’s European record holder Heather Frederiksen (31.62) and Germany’s Stefanie Weinberg (33.05) who claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The Men’s 50m Freestyle S11 was won by Spain’s 23 year old world champion and world record holder Enhamed Enhamed (27.01). Silver went to Ukraine’s Viktor Smyrnov (27.87) and bronze Russia’s Rustam Nurmukhametov (27.92).

The final individual race of the day saw Italy claim their first gold. Paralympic and World silver medalist Cecilia Camellini (32.90) stormed to victory just a fingertip ahead of Sweden’s Maja Reichard (33.20) and Germany’s golden girl from yesterday Daniela Schulte (33.49).

Ukraine underlined their dominance after two days of competition winning both relay medal events.

In the Men’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay 20pt they (2:26.25) held off Russia (2:37.86) and France (2:44.53) to take gold.

The Women’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay 20pt saw Ukraine (2:50.11) knock a whopping nine seconds off the world record to claim gold. Silver went to Russia (3:39.59) and bronze Hungary (3:44.62)