Early last week, the US Paralympic Committee announced the 2017 World Para Swimming team. The 22 Americans, 12 female and 10 male, will head to Mexico City September 30th-October 6th to compete against 500 or so other swimmers from over 60 countries.
The World Para Swimming Championships will be the 8th instance of a Para Swimming world championship-type event, but was formerly known as the IPC World Championships. Additionally, for the first time, it will serve as the culmination of the 2017 World Para Swimming World Series. The series included five stops: Copenhagen, Sao Paulo, Sheffield, Indianapolis, and Berlin. At the conclusion of the Championships, the scores from all six events will be tallied to crown an athlete the World Series winner.
With better resources and tracking technology allotted to the events, the IPC hopes that National Paralympic Committees will be better equipped to grow and standardize their programs with the influx of data.
The athletes will compete in the same pool that was used in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, which has since undergone renovations.
Headlining the selections is Jessica Long, a 23-time Paralympic Medalist and SwimSwam’s 2014 Paralympic Athlete of the Year. The team will also feature four-time Paralympic medalist Tucker Dupree, as well as the 2015 and 2017 ESPY award winner for Best Athlete with a Disability, Becca Meyers.
| Women | ||
| Hannah Aspden | Raleigh, N.C. | S9/SB8/SM9 |
| McKenzie Coan | Clarkesville, Ga. | S8/SB7/SM8 |
| Julia Gaffney | Mayflower, Ark. | S8/SB6/SM8 |
| McClain Hermes | Dacula, Ga. | S12/SB12/SM12 |
| Sophia Herzog | Fairplay, Colo. | S6/SB6/SM6 |
| Jessica Long | Baltimore, Md. | S8/SB7/SM8 |
| Becca Meyers | Timonium, Md. | S13/SB13/SM13 |
| Gia Pergolini | Roswell, Ga. | S13/SB13/SM13 |
| Aspen Shelton | Willow Park, Texas | S13/SB13/SM13 |
| Natalie Sims | Minneapolis, Minn. | S9/SB9/SM9 |
| Leanne Smith | Salem, Mass. | S4/SB4/SM4 |
| Colleen Young | St. Louis, Mo. | S13/SB13/SM13 |
| Men | ||
| Caleb Cripe | Middlebury, Ind. | S7/SB8/SM7 |
| Tharon Drake | Hobbs, N.M. | S11/SB11/SM11 |
| Tucker Dupree | Raleigh, N.C. | S12/SB12/SM12 |
| Tye Dutcher | Merced, Calif. | S10/SB9/SM10 |
| Connor Gioffreda | Timonium, Md. | S6/SB6/SM6 |
| Robert Griswold | Freehold, N.J. | S8/SB7/SM8 |
| Curtis Lovejoy | Atlanta, Ga. | S2/SB1/SM2 |
| Lawrence Sapp | Waldorf, Md. | S14/SB14/SM14 |
| Roderick Sewell | Spring Valley, Calif. | S8/SB6/SM8 |
| Zachary Shattuck | Mt. Airy, Md | S6/SB6/SM6 |
Mark what are your thoughts on the heats and finals times from the USA para trials? Some swimmers doing over 20 seconds slower in heats. Look at Jessica Long for instance, 200IM +23.26 OVER her entrance time. Some were close to going nearly 1 minute over entrance times. I know in the past you have had your say along with many others about swimmers going only 8 sec over times. Would really like to know what you think of this and what your excuse will be
Sarah
i have no excuses for swimmers going over their entry time all i can comment on is what i know and have witnessed with my own eyes.
but then again all i want is too see those who cheat banned and the sport cleaned up for those who play fair, now i can only assume you have another agenda which to be honest is part of the problem.
I take it you have spent your hard earned money travelling to Bonn to speak to Mike Peters PhD Chief of Staff and Dr Peter Van de Vliet Medical & Scientific Director like me and my partner did and voiced your concerns and presented evidence to them.
The… Read more »
No hidden agenda here. Just wanted to know what you thought about it seeing as you were one of the biggest talkers about swimmers going way over personal bests. I totally agree with you, the classification system needs to be fixed and sooner rather than later but it seems that USA are immune to being ripped apart on their times by some people. I cant wait to see what happens at Worlds this year. Its going to be interesting.
difference being some swimmers went over their times in order to gain a lower classification and then go on to smash a WR, having looked at US trials i don’t see any swimmer doing that do you ??
there was no classification to be gained and being honest i will call out any cheats i see and the US is not immune at all.
The main trouble with the US setup is at the top and how far Queenie is up Mike Peters backside which is a pity really as the US swimmers i have meet at Our GB championships and talked too have been very open about classification cheating and some have admitted to being shocked at… Read more »
The excuse…..ALTITUDE. Most swimmers are training at sea level and this meet was held at 7,000 feet. There are quite a few swimmers who are staying at the Olympic Training Center almost until the meet starts in Mexico City, which is at 7,382 feet. There were a number of swimmers who did not go to the trails, as they weren’t able to get any altitude training in before hand, and their times would have been horrendous. The altitude challenge is much worse than jetlag.
With the GB team selecting two female swimmers in the S8 classification it will take a miracle for Jess and her teammate to beat them.
Megan Richter who for the last 6 years has completed as an S9 and always shown promise but never quite made it was suddenly moved down in Sheffield.
Since being moved down she has somehow developed a limp ( never seen before inc the video I took at Sheffield) to say IM has not been used here would be an understatement.
As for Steph Millward well seeing her walk round ponds forge and then in her wheelchair poolside only to jump up and down behind the blocks smacks of IM and this… Read more »