Canada’s Rivard successfully defends 100m freestyle title at Para swimming worlds

By admin On Aug 5, 2023

Aurélie Rivard and Danielle Dorris continued to stack medals for Canada at the Para swimming world championships in Manchester, England, on Saturday.

The highly decorated Rivard, 27, added her second gold medal of the meet in the women’s 100m freestyle S10 final after securing her first on Monday in the 50m freestyle S10 final. Rivard also won both events at last year’s worlds in Madeira, Portugal.

The Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., native clocked a time of 59.97 seconds on Saturday, remaining as the only woman to record a time below one minute this year. Rivard holds the world-record time of 58.14 in the event, which she set at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.

WATCH | Rivard swims to 2nd world title in Manchester:

More gold for Canada’s Aurélie Rivard at Para Swimming Worlds

Aurélie Rivard captured her second gold medal at the para swimming world championships, this time in the 100 metre freestyle race.

Rivard trailed France’s Emeline Pierre by 0.07 seconds after the first leg of the race, but kicked it up a notch in the last 50 metres to finish atop the podium, 1.01 seconds clear of silver medallist Maria Paula Barrera Zapata of Colombia, and 1.16 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Bianka Pap of Hungary.

Twenty-one-year-old Arianna Hunsicker of Surrey, B.C., finished eighth with a time of 1:03.52.

Rivard has now won six gold medals over her career at the world championships to go along with five at the Paralympics and six at the Parapan American Games. Her total medal haul across the three competitions is 31 (17 gold, nine silver, five bronze), 14 of which are from the world championships.

She will get a chance to add to her total on Sunday in the 100m backstroke S10 competition, an event she won silver in at the 2020 Paralympics and bronze in at the 2022 worlds.

Live coverage of the Para swimming world championships continues through Sunday on CBCSports.ca, the free CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Dorris impresses in 50m freestyle

The two-time Paralympian Dorris from Moncton, N.B., claimed silver in the women’s 50m freestyle S7 final — her first time racing internationally in the event — finishing with a time of 33.99 seconds, just 0.98 seconds shy of Colombian gold-medal winner Sara Vargas Blanco. Switzerland’s Sabine Weber-Treiber took bronze with a time of 34.91.

The 20-year-old had already won three medals at the swimming worlds, collecting two gold medals in the 100m backstroke S7 final on Thursday and 50m butterfly S7 final on Friday, and winning bronze in the 200m individual medley SM7 final on Monday.

WATCH l Moncton, N.B., native Dorris swims to silver in Manchester:

Canada’s Danielle Dorris captures a 4th medal at Para Swimming Worlds

Danielle Dorris of Moncton N.B., swam to a silver medal in the 50 metre freestyle S7 race, claiming her fourth medal at the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester.

Canada has won 17 medals in Manchester (nine gold, four silver and four bronze).

The 20-year-old got off to a fantastic start, pacing the eight-woman field for the first half of the race. Vargas Blanco caught the Canadian toward the end of the one-length race to win the title.

Saskatoon’s Nikita Ens, 34, finished fifth in the women’s 200m freestyle S3 final with a time of 5:05.93, her second top-five finish of the swimming worlds after finishing fifth in the 50m backstroke SB2 final on Monday.

Great Britain’s Ellie Challis, 19, won her third gold-medal of the games – and fifth medal overall – with a commanding time of 3:35.20, while Brazil’s Susana Schnarndorf won silver with a time nearly 43 seconds back of Challis, and American Leanne Smith took bronze.