IPC World Swimming Championships Wrap

At the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships that ran from 12-18 August in Montreal, Canada the New Zealand team cemented themselves in New Zealand swimming history by winning the biggest medal haul ever by a New Zealand team at an IPC Swimming World Championships. 

The outstanding total of 15 medals with 12 gold brought New Zealand to 4th place on the medal table.  The staggering dozen gold medals were coupled with 3 World records and 4 Oceania records.

Jon Shaw (Head Performance Coach, Paralympics New Zealand) explained, "This has been a very good meet for the Paralympics New Zealand Swim Team. Outstanding efforts by all our swimmers, team and home coaches, together with our support staff.”

He continued, “We have gained a lot from this meet and we will move forward with plenty of momentum. There is work to do and our coaches and swimmers will embrace the challenges ahead on the road to Rio.”

London Paralympic superstars Mary Fisher and Sophie Pascoe finished the meet with 5 gold’s each.

Pascoe won every event she entered as well as breaking 3 World records. In the women’s 50m freestyle S10 Pascoe improved on her silver medal from London 2012, taking the gold in a world record time that saw her break the 28 second mark for the first time, clocking 27.78 seconds.

Fisher only had to settle for silver once during the championships. Along with her 5 gold’s and 1 silver medal she broke numerous Oceania records, solidifying her place on the international swimming scene.

London Paralympic gold medalist and world record holder Cameron Leslie went into the Men’s 150m Individual Medley SM4 clear that he would defend his title.  He swam a commanding race to take the win by almost 6 seconds. He also won a bronze medal in the men’s 50m Backstroke S5 in a time of 43.78 seconds.

Nikita Howarth from Cambridge, showed why she was selected as New Zealand’s youngest ever Paralympian as she swam a strong race winning bronze in the women’s 50m Fly S7, her first medal at world championship level.  She then went on to win her first world championship title in the 200m Individual Medley SM7, out-touching home crowd favourite Brianna Nelson by just 0.34 seconds.