All eyes on Ukrainian Mereshko at swimming Euros

With the 2016 IPC Swimming European Open Championships in Funchal, Portugal, just a few weeks away, Ukrainian world champion Yelyzaveta Mereshko believes she has found her stride.

The 23-year-old will be hoping for a strong performance at the last major competition before Rio 2016 in September, where she will make her Paralympic debut.

Mereshko is now into her third year at the highest levels of the sport and feels able to relax about some aspects of competing.

“In comparison to my first competitions, obviously I have become more and more experienced with every international event, and there are fewer reasons to worry,” she said. “But being totally calm is not good enough as it means you don’t care about your result….I try to find the ‘golden mean’.”

A relatively recent addition to the international competition circuit, Mereshko knows exactly what she is aiming for: “Every athlete dreams to improve his results and to show his best at every competition.”

There is increased focus on Mereshko’s performance since she took the 400m freestyle S6 world title from Great Britain’s Paralympic champion Eleanor Simmonds at her first IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Great Britain, in 2015.

Simmonds had successfully defended her title at ever Worlds and Paralympic Games since 2008. But Mereshko will have to wait to meet Simmonds again, as she is not on the team sheet for the Euros.

Nevertheless Mereshko’s win in Glasgow could lead to some very close-fought races between the pair at Rio 2016. All eyes will be on the Ukrainian in Funchal to see if she has retained her form.

Mereshko is keeping a cool head when it comes to any potential rivalry: “All opponents are unique, all of them train intensively, that is why I can’t point out [one person] more than [another]. There are a lot of young and talented swimmers in the world, and my task is to swim faster then everybody.”

This sanguine outlook may be influenced by the level of detail that goes into her training schedule. She is closely supervised and supported by her coach, and mental preparation is factored in to her training regime.

“Each stage of my training process is planned carefully by my coach,” she said. “All aspects…should be considered. Great attention is paid to the daily regimen and psychological training.”

As with many of her competitors, she began swimming as a child, “My mum took me swimming so that I could improve my health condition. The swimming pool is not far from my house and it was very convenient for us to visit it. Then I was invited to take part in children’s competitions, where I become ‘infected’ with competitiveness. And I’m still infected with it.”

With Rio 2016 less than six months away, Mereshko is beginning to allow herself to be excited.

“This is the most important event in life of every athlete,” she said. “I’m trying to reach the top in my training in order to achieve good results at the Games.”

The 2016 IPC Swimming European Open Championships in Funchal, Portugal, will take place between 30 April – 7 May and feature more than 450 swimmers from 50 countries.

All heats and finals will be shown live, alongside live results, at the Funchal 2016 website.