Swimmers taper ahead of Glasgow 2015

Swimmers from around the world showed good preparation for July’s World Championships over the weekend (24-25 April), improving on their 2015 bests at the 2015 Open Caixa Loterias Swimming Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Home favourite and reigning six-time world champion Daniel Dias was in great form in both the men’s 100m breaststroke SB4 and 50m freestyle S5, taking a double victory to propel himself to the top of the world rankings in both events.

In the 50m freestyle, Dias (32.85) shaved just under three seconds off the world No.1 time of Spain’s Sebastian Rodriguez which stands at 35.38.

Dias did the same in the 100m breaststroke, touching in at 1:38.47 to beat another Spaniard, European champion Ricardo Ten, to first place in the rankings.

Compatriot Phelipe Rodrigues (23.63) showed world and Paralympic champion Andre Brasil that he is not the only Brazilian to watch in the men’s 50m freestyle S10, coming within 0.50 seconds of Brasil’s world record.

With that performance, Rodrigues retains his second place in the world and moves him to within a hair’s breadth of current No.1 Australian Andrew Pasterfield’s leading time of 23.98.

“I'm using the Open Caixa Loterias Swimming Championship as an escalator to the Parapan Am Games and the World Championships,” Rodrigues commented.

Brasil has not yet swum at an IPC Swimming recognised competition in 2015, but is still the favourite as the defending world champion in three events – the 100m and 50m freestyle S10 and 100m butterfly S10.

South Africa’s world No.1 Kevin Paul (1:05.16) continued his run of great swims, taking gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB9 and keeping him on track for retaining his world title at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Great Britain, from 13-19 July.

Swede Maja Reichard was under one second away from the women’s 50m freestyle S11 world record, swimming a 31.86 to bring her world leading time down for the second time in one month.

Reichard, a bronze medallist in the event from the 2013 Worlds, improved on her 32.37 registered during the Swim Cup Eindhoven in the Netherlands at the beginning of April to strengthen her No.1 status in the world rankings.

Glasgow 2015 is expected to gather around 650 of the world’s best swimmers from 50 countries in one of the last major international competitions ahead of Rio 2016, and acts as a qualifier for the Paralympic Games.

Swimmers from the Americas are also heading towards the Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games from 7-15 August.

Tickets and media accreditation are currently available at Glasgow2015.com and for Toronto 2015 on the website.