Video of the race is not yet posted, though we’ll add one to this article as soon as it is available.
GLASGOW, Scotland – Becca Meyers added another storyline to her fairytale week. Still in awe after her ESPY award win, the two-time Paralympic medalist let action speak for itself today by breaking her second world record in two days at the IPC Swimming World Championships, taking more than a second off of the previous mark to finish in 4:21.66 in the women’s 400-meter freestyle S13 race.
Meyers (Timonium, Maryland) has been unstoppable in Glasgow, Scotland, going two for two so far at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre with her win against former record holder Anna Stetsenko of Ukraine on Day Four. The 20-year-old, who defended her 2013 world title in the event, held the world record before Stetsenko lowered the mark in April to 4:23.01. Meyers says she was determined to rewrite her name in the record books.
“I felt really good going into the race,” Meyers said. “I told myself in the call room ‘I got this’ and ‘I want my world record back’. After the first lap I looked over and saw I was ahead of [Stetsenko] and just went for it. I needed to bring it home on the last lap so I just went all out.”
As if adding to her career world medal count of now six wasn’t rewarding enough, Meyers woke up this morning in Glasgow to discover she won the ESPY award for Best Female with a Disability, a fan-voted honor presented by ESPN. This comes after setting her first world record of the championships on Tuesday in the 200 IM. She’ll look to keep the momentum through the weekend with three remaining races in Glasgow—the 100 breaststroke (Friday), 100 freestyle (Saturday) and 100 butterfly (Sunday).
“It feels incredible to have that kind of love and support from my teammates, my friends back home and my family here,” she said. “I’m on a high right now and I’m excited to finish strong these next three days and bring it home for Team USA.”
Several silver medals were won by U.S. swimmers today, including a tight race between Michelle Konkoly (Eagleville, Pennsylvania) and Sarai Gascon of Spain in the women’s 50 free S9. Konkly fell just four-hundredths of a second from the gold medal winner Gascon. The men’s 50 butterfly S5 race with Roy Perkins, Jr. (Del Mar, California) was one of the many dramatic finishes of the night as he battled Brazil’s Daniel Dias and Great Britain’s Andrew Mullen, finishing .16 of a second from Dias with a time of 35.67.
Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) added a silver to her collection in the women’s 100 free S8 race after coming in behind Australia’s Maddison Elliott who set a world record in the event. Long, a 17-time Paralympic medalist, clocked in at 32.67 before later competing in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay.
Taking home a bronze for her third medal of the world championships was Cortney Jordan (Henderson, Nevada) who took third in the women’s 200 IM SM7 with a time of 3:06.90.
Team USA closed out the day in thrilling fashion again with the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay. The group of Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, North Carolina), McKenzie Coan (Clarksville, Georgia), Long and Konkoly came back from the sixth spot after the first 50 meters to make up the difference and clinch second place with a time of 4:26.62. With the silver, Aspden and Coan took home their first medals in their world championship debuts.
“The fact that you have a team, are swimming for a team and for the greater team of the U.S. really brings everything all together,” Konkoly said.
After four days of competition at the IPC Swimming World Championships, the U.S. ranks third in the overall and gold medal counts with a total of 19 medals—nine gold, five silver and five bronze.
The event with 580 athletes from nearly 70 countries continues tomorrow through July 19. Schedule and results are available on the IPC website with a live stream hosted with play-back option on USParalympics.org.
Swimming news courtesy: United States Paralympic Committee.