Tuckfield’s First Championship Medal and Silver for Hodge

A MEDAL blitz on Night 3 of the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore saw the Dolphins scoop the pool with two silver and three bronze medals.

‘Top Five Tuesday’ was led by Dolphins’ ironman Tim Hodge who has emerged as a spearhead for the Para Dolphins along the green and gold pathway to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year and LA Games in 2028.

The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder, who claimed a 200IM world championship crown just 24 hours ago, was joined by rising star Lewis Bishop on the podium as the pair claimed silver and bronze respectively in the men’s 100m butterfly S9.

While Hodge was always expected to feature in the medals, it was Bishop – fifth at the turn – who showcased serious back-end speed to surge home. Italy’s Simone Barlaam won gold in a championship record time of 57.96.

The result triggered a nine-minute blitz of four medals for the Dolphins.

Australia’s most successful night at the meet thus far was started by Jake Michel in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14.

In his only event in Singapore, Michel took advantage of his 200cm frame and set an Oceania record of 1:03.51 to claim his fifth world championships medal. It took a championship record of 1:03.36 by Japan’s Naohide Yamaguchi to snatch the gold from Michel (silver) and bronze medallist Harry Stewart (1:04.04).

In the women’s 100m butterfly S9, USC Spartan Emily Beecroft went stroke-for-stroke with Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly and Netherland’s Florianne Bultje in the final 50m but world champion Jialing Xu from China surged from lane 7 to claim the gold. Less than a second separated Xu in first (1:08.24), Konkoly in second (1:08.49) and Beecroft third (1:08.65).

Australia’s final medal of the night was four years in the making. Alex Tuckfield claimed his first world championships medal – a bronze – in a gutsy 400m freestyle S10 race.

The NSWIS scholarship holder made his Dolphins debut at 16 and won bronze in Tokyo then was re-classified as a S10 which presented challenges in continuing his career in middle-distance swimming with no S10 400m or 200m Paralympic events currently offered.

Back in action, Tuckfield led the race from turn one and had Amercian bolter Koehn Boyd and Netherland’s Bas Takken at his heels. In a final 25m sprint, Takken came out on top at 4:05.28, followed by Boyd (4:05.89) and Tuckfield in bronze (4:06.89).

“This medal is not just for me. It’s for Australia. And my god was that fun,” Tuckfield said.