Ukraine, Great Britain Maintain Lead on Day 4 in Iceland

As Day 4 of the 2009 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming European Championships came to a close on 21 October, the top two spots stayed with teams from Great Britain and Ukraine.

Records also continued to be broken throughout the day. In the Men’s 50m Freestyle (S12), Maksym Veraksa from Ukraine set a new World records with a time of 22.99s. Veraksa was followed by Russia’s Alexandr Nevolin-Svetov and Spain’s Omar Font Jimenez respectively. In the Women’s 50m Freestyle (S12), the first and second places went to Russian athletes Anna Efimenko and Oxana Savchenko respetively. Poland’s Joanna Mendak came in third place.

In the Women’s 200m Individual Medley (SM6), Great Britain’s star athlete Eleanor Simmonds set a World record with her time of 3:11.82. Simmonds was followed by compatriot Natalie Jones and Germany’s Verena Schott respectively. For the Men’s 200m Individual Medley (SM6), Sascha Kindred from Great Britain and Yevheniy Bohodayko from Ukraine took first and second positions respectively, with Great Britain’s Matthew Whorwood coming in third.

Athletes from Great Britain held the top two places in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke (SB14) as Daniel Pepper and Nicholas Boylan finished with times of 1:10.47 and 1:14.70 respectively. Jensen Ragnvaldur Atlason from the Faroe Islands came in third with a time of 1:17.20. In the Women’s 100m Breaststroke (SB14), Magdalena Toeters from the Netherlands took first with a time of 1:19.55. Toeters was followed by Shu Hang Leung from Hong Kong, China, and Amberely Hoar from Great Britain.