Bethany Firth Leads Brit 1-2 With Applegate As China & Ukraine Go On A Gold Rush

Bethany Firth collected her second gold of the Games with a 2:03.30 win in the women’s S14 200m freestyle on the fourth day of racing at the Paralympics in Rio.

Great Britain teammate Jessica-Jane Applegate delivering a 1-2 finish in 2:06.92 in a session that delivered five medals for the Brits. The bronze to Marlou van der Kulk (NED) in 2:10.20.

It was a third Paralympic title for Firth, who won the S14 100m backstroke last Thursday to retain a crown she first claimed at London 2012.

With paid plaudits to Applegate when she said: “I don’t think I would have made it had I not had Jessica-Jane pushing me all the way.”

Fighting back tears, Applegate said: “It’s hard having your main ribal on the same team because you want you terammate to do well but you want that gold yourself, too.”

On a day when Sophie Pascoe (NZL) and a 2:24.90 win in the women’s SM10 200m medley produced one of the most dominant triumphs, China, with four victories, and the Ukraine, with three, dominated the gold count.

It was gold No 2 of the Games for Yelyzaveta Mereshko in the SB5 (cerebral palsy) 100m breastsrtoke in 1:41.63, with teammate Viktoriia Savtsova making it a 1-2 finish for the Ukraine in 1:42.14.

Yelyzaveta Mereshko – Ukraine – courtesy Paralympics.org

Mereshko, 24, is just 1.56m tall and weighs in at 47kg. A student of computer engineering at the Kherson National Technical University, she began swimming in 2003 at the Youth Sports School No.6 in the same city. “My mum took me swimming so that I could improve my health condition. The swimming pool was 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,” explained Mereshko.

Coached by Ella Benedyk from the start, Mereshko trains twice a day, and has only made an impact in paralympic swimming in the past three seasons since her international debut at the European Championships in 2014.

Her idol is Ukraine’s all0time No1 swimmer, Yana Klochkova, who claimed Olympic double gold on medley at both Sysney 2000 and Athens 2004 to become the most successful medley swimmer of all-time.

Mereshko was joined in the club of Ukraine winners in Rio by Oleksii Fedyna, who shared gold with Firdavsbek Musabekov (UZB) in 1:04.94 in the men’s SB13 100m breaststroke, and Denys Dubrov (UKR), home in a dominant 2:06.87 in the men’s SM10 200m medley.

For China there was a 1-2 finish in the men’s S8 100m Freestyle, Wang Yinan Wang on 56.80, Song Maodang Song on 58.13, with Britain’s Josef Craig on 58.19 ahead of teammate Oliver Hynd, 58.85.

The men’s SB4 100m breaststroke produced gold for Li Junsheng in 1:35.96 ahead of local hero Daniel Dias (BRA) 1:36.13, while Liu Benying, in the men’s S2 200m freestyle and Lin Pin, in the men’s SM9 200m medley, completed the Chinese victories in day …

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