Veiga and Grachat lead Portugal at home Euros

A veteran and a promising young star will lead hosts Portugal at the Madeira 2020 European Open Championships that kick off on Sunday (16 May).

Susana Veiga took Portugal’s only medal at the London 2019 World Para Swimming Allianz Championships with her silver in the women’s 50m freestyle S9.

In the same class, on the men’s side David Grachat will be looking to qualify for his fourth Paralympic Games at Tokyo 2020 in August when he competes in his only event at Madeira 2020, the 400m freestyle S9.

“Portugal returns to Madeira to compete at the European Open Championships following the successful 2016 edition. This competition closes the cycle towards Tokyo 2020 and will be really important to evaluate the work we have done,” said Rui Sardinha, Vice President of the Portuguese Swimming Federation.

The eight-strong Portuguese team will have two female and six male athletes in action at the Penteada Pools Complex. 

Complete list below:

Daniel Videira

The S6 swimmer took two medals at the last Europeans in Dublin, Ireland in 2018. A silver in the men’s 400m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m freestyle.

David Grachat 

The 34-year-old Grachat was a medallist when Madeira hosted the Euros back in 2016 with a bronze in the men’s 400m freestyle S9. He took a silver medal in the same event at the Mexico City 2017 World Championships.

Diogo Cancela 

Double-medallist at the 2019 European Para Youth Games in Finland, the 18-year-old made his World Championships debut the same year in London competing in the S8 class.

Gino Caetano 

Another S9 swimmer, Caetano has already competed in four World Championships since Eindhoven 2010.

Ivo Rocha

Competing in the S5 class, Rocha made his international debut at the European Championships back in 2014 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Marco Meneses 

The 20-year-old blind swimmer is a bronze medallist from Dublin 2018 in the men’s 100m backstroke S11.

Renata Pinto

Another S9 swimmer, Pinto will be competing for the second time at a home Europeans following her participation at Funchal 2016.

Susana Veiga

The biggest name in the Portuguese team, Veiga caught the attention of the Para swimming world with a silver medal at Dublin 2018. A year later she repeated the achievement at the London 2019 Worlds in the same race, the women’s 50m freestyle S9.