Greenwood’s golden debut

 

  

Swimming Australia: October 4, 2017: Australian Dolphins debutant Jasmine Greenwood (SB9) has struck gold on the second day of competition at the Canadian Open in Toronto, posting an impressive time in the women’s 100m breaststroke and putting her hand up for Commonwealth Games nomination in the process.

Greenwood clocked a time of 1:20.15 for a total of 953 points to take the win ahead of fellow Aussie teammates Madeleine Scott (1:20.95, 938pts) and Paige Leonhardt (1:21.17 934pts) who finished second and third respectively.

At just 12-years-of-age, Greenwood is the youngest member of the 2017 Para team and will be one to watch in the lead up to Tokyo 2020, with her time from today putting her in strong contention for nomination for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. 

 It took a world record to stop six-time Paralympic gold medallist Ellie Cole (S9) from taking top spot in the women’s 100m backstroke with Canada’s Shelby Newkirk (S7) stealing the show in a time of 1:21.43 for 991 points.

Cole, who has been in a moon-boot for the past month after fracturing her foot, managed to still sneak into second place in 1:12.00 (981pts) despite her injury and disrupted preparation.

 Rio Paralympic gold medallist Lakeisha Patterson (S8) rounded out the top three in 1:20.07 (948pts) with teammates Katja Dedekind (S13) in 1:11.65 (884pts) and Monique Murphy (S10) in 1:16.32 (737pts) finishing fourth and fifth overall.

After stunning the world in Rio to take gold in the 50m freestyle, Rachael Watson (S4) was back to her winning ways once again, taking the title in Canada in a time of 39.02 for a total of 1056 points.

Canada’s Aurelie Rivard (S10) was awarded second place with a time of 28.03 (985pts) while Lakeisha Patterson was back in the pool and third overall in 30.72 (977pts).

In the corresponding men’s event Rowan Crothers (S10) set a new personal best time of 23.94 for 999 points to take the win in the 50 free ahead of Matt Levy (S7) in second place with 28.73 (959pts) and Braeden Jason (S13) who was third in 24.64 (915 pts)

 Sunshine Coast swimmer Blake Cochrane (SB7) stopped the clock at 1:18.14 for 978 points, to take the honours in his pet event, the men’s 100m breaststroke.

Canada’s James Leroux had to settle for second in 1:09.69 (913pts) while fellow Aussie Liam Schluter (SB14) clocked a personal best time of 1:15.92 (793pts) for third place overall.

Schluter then went on to clock another personal best, this time in the men’s 100m backstroke to finish fourth in 1:05.69 (904pts).

It was Canada’s Benoit Huot who was victorious in the 100m back with his time of 1:01.06 (959pts) good enough to get the better of an in form Tim Hodge (S9) who set a new personal best time of 1:04.52 (947pts) for second place and with that time, he also gained a shot at selection on the Commonwealth Games team. Canadian Alex Elliott was third in 1:02.26 (356pts).

Swimming Australia Paralympic Performance Manager Adam Pine said he was impressed with the results from the meet so far.

“We have seen a number of impressive swims at the meet so far, with the standouts for me today being Tim Hodge and our rookie Jasmine Greenwood,” Pine said.

“Both of them have clocked notable times in their respective events that will be taken into consideration for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games nomination.

“The team’s resilient attitude at this meet and swimming under these circumstances has really been a positive for me and has made this trip so successful and I am looking forward to seeing everyone give it their all on the last day of racing tomorrow.”

The final event of the day saw the Aussie quartet of Matthew Levy, Rowan Crothers, Blake Cochrane and Brenden Hall combine to hit the wall in a time of 3:52.85 with Crothers split of 51.23, topping off a great night in the pool for the Paralympian.

The penultimate night of racing in Toronto saw the Aussie team set nine new season bests and five personal bests.

Full results are available here: https://results.swimming.ca/2017_PSCO/index.html