Medals for NSWIS swimmers at Para World Championships

Athletes from the NSW Institute of Sport added further medals to Australia’s tally on the final days of the Para World Swimming Championships in London.

Challenging in her fifth final at the champs, Jasmine Greenwood (NSWIS) achieved a well-deserved podium finish, placing third in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S10 in a personal best time of 1:07.69. At just 14 years of age Greenwood is Australia’s youngest competitor, with this accomplishment marking her maiden world championship medal. Leading for a good portion of the race, the young Bay & Bay athlete was only 0.62 behind gold medallist Mikaela Jenkins (USA), who touched in 1:07.07. Monique Murphy also represented Australia in the race, placing eighth in 1:13.48.

Delighted by the result, the humble teen was still letting the good news sink in.

“It feels amazing, I wasn’t expecting a medal – a PB is good and so to get a medal on top of that is just amazing,” she said.

“I knew I was in the mix but didn’t know what place I had gotten, and then I looked at the board and was so just excited.”

After scoring a bronze medal in the 100m Backstroke S9 on night two, Timothy Hodge (NSWIS) collected his second bronze medal of the champs – this time in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley SM9 with a time of 2:17.68. Leading for a good portion of the race and swimming from lane four, the Auburn swimmer had challengers from lanes five and six, with Russia’s Andrei Kalina ultimately stealing gold in 2:16.67 and Italian Federico Morlacchi taking silver in 2:17.66. In such a tight finish, only 1.01 seconds separated first from third, and two one hundredths of a second from silver to bronze.

Northern Metro hub swimmer Ellie Cole (NSWIS) also picked up another bronze at the Para World Swimming Championships in the 400 freestyle in 4:45.56 adding to her silver on night two.

With their teammates proudly donning the iconic green and gold and cheering in grandstands, the Dolphins’ Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay 34 points captured bronze on the final night of the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London – marking Australia’s last medal of the meet.

As the Aussie contingent in the crowd nervously held their breath, the quartet of Matt Levy (NSWIS), Ben Popham, Tim Disken and Rowan Crothers fought extremely hard to pull back initial leads from their competition and hold on to secure the podium finish. Levy dived off the blocks first and held strong, with Popham and Disken digging deep in the middle stages to give Crothers the best chance to nab a piece of silverware. Touching in 3:49.79, it was a close race for silver, with Ukraine placing second in 3:48.83, while Italy took gold in 3:46.83.

Swimming side-by-side in lanes two and three, Taylor Corry (NSWIS) and Ruby Storm fought hard in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S14 final. The duo, who were part of the bronze-medal-winning S14 relay team on night four, touched one after the other in fourth and fifth. Corry just got the better of her rookie teammate, breaking the Oceania Record in a new personal best time of 1:07.30 to Storm’s 1:08.03 – which was also a personal best for the 15-year-old.

Speaking after the race, the pair were delighted to record new personal best times and race alongside each other.

“We both did a PB and I broke the Oceania Record so we couldn’t be happier,” Corry said.

“When we were in Manchester for the staging camp we trained together and raced each other most of the time – so we always push ourselves,” she added.

In the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB6, Matt Levy (NSWIS) set a new Oceania Record time of 1:27.55 to place seventh overall, while in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8, Tim Hodge came eighth in 1:16.51.

In one of final events of the night, Tim Hodge (backstroke), Tim Disken (breaststroke), Col Pearse (butterfly) and Matt Levy (freestyle) competed in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay 34 points. In a close race to the finish line, the Aussies narrowly missed out on a podium finish, clocking 4:18.40. Russia, Italy and China took the gold, silver and bronze, respectively.