Katja later – Dedekind and Dolphins deliver more gold for Australia

 

Swimming Australia: August 13, 2018:  Katja Dedekind, Ellie Cole and a host of Dolphins have continued the gold rush at the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in Cairns, with Australia now sitting on a total of 31 gold medals for the meet.

Just a few days shy of her 17^th birthday, Dedekind produced the fastest 100m backstroke of her career to take gold and make her intentions clear some two years out from the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

“I did a really good time this morning and I was really determined to go under that 1.11 again. It’s the first time I’ve done that the whole year and it’s great to do that in front of a home crowd and my family,” said Dedekind.

 

“I did a 1.10 last year for the Worlds trials and I haven’t done a good time since then, so I’m really happy to do something two seconds under my Rio time.”

 

“Doing that time today, and after the way I’m feeling after a few days of racing, means it’s really looking good for Tokyo.”

 

Training alongside Paralympic superstar Ellie Cole at the USC Spartans club on the Sunshine Coast, and a rookie on the team in Rio, Dedekind said she just loves being part of the Australian team and can’t wait for 2020.

 

“It’s amazing and I love every minute of it, and having Ellie Cole there to train alongside with her and her backstroke just makes me so much better as an athlete and a person.”

 

Cole cruised to victory in her main event, the 100m S9 backstroke, hitting the wall in 1.10.73 but was the first to admit that she will need to swim faster, against tougher competition, if she’s to medal in the event in Tokyo 2020.

 

“Backstroke is an event that I’ve been working on for a long time and I’ve kind of strayed away from my PB over the last year or two. And that’s probably one of the better results I’ve had in a while,” said Cole.

 

“I really want to do 1.07 for Tokyo, that’s what’s going to put me in a gold medal position. The time I did probably won’t get me a medal to be honest.

 

“Most of my competitors are in Great Britain and Spain, but it’s great that I get to race  some of the American’s here. One of the girls in my race Hannah Aspen, she won bronze in Rio, so there is still good competition here to push me. I won that by a fair bit but I’m definitely not sitting in comfort because I know there are so many athletes out there that could easily overtake me.”

 

The men’s 34-point relay team of Matthew Levy, Timothy Disken, Ben Popham and Rowan Crothers stormed home for gold with an impressive time of 3.50.45.

 

Hitting the wall almost a second and a half faster than their fifth place effort in Rio at the Paralympic Games, the team of experience and youth should only improve over the next two years.

 

Lakeisha Patterson started the night well for the Dolphins winning gold in the women’s S8 100m backstroke, for her second individual gold of the meet, hitting the wall in 1.18.92.

 

In the S10 100m backstroke, Katherine Downie picked up bronze for Australia with a time of 1.12.06 behind Aurelie Rivard from Canada and gold medallist Sophie Pascoe from New Zealand who won in a time of 1.09.05.

 

Backing up from her strong 200m IM last night, S14 swimmer Taylor Corry stepped to the top of the medal dais again this time taking gold in the 100m backstroke, with her Dolphins teammate Jaime-Lee Getson winning the silver.

 

 

 

Timothy Hodge also returned after a strong 200m IM last night for another personal best, this time by just point two of a second to win gold in the men’s S9 100m backstroke.

 

Hodge led from start to finish to hit the wall in 1.03.68, while Queenslander Logan Powell picked up his second silver of the meet, just shy of a personal best to finish in 1.05.67.

 

Jesse Aungles was also amongst the silver medals finishing second in the S8 100m backstroke in 1.09.12, behind American speedster Robert Griswold who clocked an impressive time of 1.04.43 for gold.

 

Vision impaired swimmer Jeremy McClure from Perth won gold in the S11 100m backstroke with a time of 1.12.92, a couple of seconds outside of his fifth place at the Rio Paralympics, while Jacob Templeton took silver in the S13 100m back in 1.04.01, and Liam Schluter picked up bronze in the S14 100m backstroke in a time of 1.04.40.

 

The final individual event of the night saw Matthew Levy win silver in the S7 50m butterfly in a time of 31.79, with Rohan Bright taking bronze in 32.35.

 

 

 

The Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships at the Tobruk Memorial Pool in Cairns will continue tomorrow morning from 10am, with all the heats action live online at www.swimming.org.au

 

Australian Dolphins Medallists – Day 4

 

Gold - 6
Lakeisha Patterson – Gold – S8 100m Backstroke
Ellie Cole – Gold – S9 100m Backstroke
Katja Dedekind – Gold – S13 100m Backstroke
Timothy Hodge – Gold – S9 100m Backstroke
Jeremy McClure – Gold – S11 100m Backstroke

 

Relay – Gold – 34 point 4x100m freestyle - Matthew Levy, Timothy Disken, Ben Popham and Rowan Crothers

 

Silver - 4

 

Jesse Aungles – Silver – S8 100m Backstroke
Logan Powell – Silver – S9 100m Backstroke
Jacob Templeton – Silver – S13 100m Backstroke

 

Matthew Levy – Silver – S7 50m Butterfly

 

Bronze – 3

 

Katherine Downie – Bronze – S10 100m Backstroke
Liam Schluter – Bronze – S14 100m Backstroke

 

Rohan Bright – Bronze – S7 50m Butterfly

 

Australian Dolphins Medallists – Day 3

 

Gold - 6
Grant Patterson – Gold – Men’s 50m Backstroke S3
Madeleine Scott – Gold – Women’s 200m IM SM9
Taylor Corry – Gold – Women’s 200m IM SM14
Matthew Levy – Gold – Men’s 200m IM SM7
Timothy Hodge – Gold – Men’s 200m IM SM9
Relay – Gold – Women’s 4x100m Medley 34-point - Ellie Cole, Tiffany Thomas-Kane, Paige Leonhardt, Lakeisha Patterson

 

Silver - 4
Lakeisha Patterson – Silver – Women’s 200m IM SM8
Rohan Bright – Silver – Men’s 200m IM SM7
Jesse Aungles – Silver – Men’s 200m IM SM8
Timothy Disken – Silver – Men’s 200m IM SM9

 

Bronze - 5
Katherine Downie – Bronze – Women’s 200m IM SM10
Katja Dedekind – Bronze – Women’s 200m IM SM12/13
Blake Cochrane – Bronze – Men’s 200m IM SM8
Jacob Templeton – Bronze – Men’s 200m IM SM13
Liam Schluter – Bronze – Men’s 200m IM SM14

Australian Dolphins Medallists – Day 2

 

Gold - 6
Ellie Cole – Gold – S9 100m Freestyle
Ben Popham – Gold – S8 100m Freestyle
Rowan Crothers – Gold – S10 100m Freestyle
Grant Patterson – Gold – SB2 – 50m Breaststroke
Relay – Gold – S14 4x100m Freestyle Relay - Liam Schluter, Daniel Fox, Jamie-Lee Getson, Taylor Corry
Relay – Gold – 34-point medley relay - Timothy Hodge, Rick Pendleton, Timothy Disken, Matt Levy

 

Silver - 2
Lakeisha Patterson – Silver – S8 100m Freestyle

 

Ahmed Kelly – Silver – SB3 50m Breaststroke

 

Bronze - 3
Paige Leonhardt – Bronze – S10 100m Freestyle

 

Rachel Watson – Bronze – SB3 50m Breaststroke
Guy Harrison-Murray – Bronze - S10 100m Freestyle

 

Australian Dolphins Medallists – Day 1

 

 

 

Gold - 13

 

Lakeisha Patterson – Gold – 400m Freestyle S8
Ellie Cole – Gold – 400m Freestyle S9

 

Matt Levy – Gold – 400m Freestyle S7

 

Brenden Hall – Gold – 400m Freestyle S9

 

Rowan Crothers – Gold 400m Freestyle S10
Braedan Jason – Gold – 400m Freestyle S13
Grant Patterson – Gold – 200m Freestyle S3

 

Liam Schulter – Gold – 200m Freestyle S14
Paige Leonhardt – Gold – 100m Breaststroke SB9
Blake Cochrane – Gold – 100m Breaststroke SB7

 

Timothy Disken – Gold – 100m Breaststroke SB8
Rick Pendleton – Gold – 100m Breaststroke SB9
Liam Bekric – Gold – 100m Breaststroke SB13

 

Silver - 11
Monique Murphy – Silver – 400m Freestyle S10
Katja Dedekind – Silver – 400m Freestyle S13

 

Logan Powell – Silver – 400m Freestyle S9

 

Jacob Templeton – Silver - 400m Freestyle S13
Daniel Fox – Silver - 200m Freestyle S14
Tiffany Thomas-Kane – Silver – 100m Freestyle SB7
Keira Stephens – Silver – 100m Breaststroke SB9
Jaime-Lee Getson – Silver – 100m Breaststroke SB14
Rohan Bright – Silver – 100m Breaststroke SB7
Timothy Hodge – Silver – 100m Breaststroke SB8
20-point Relay – Silver – Rachael Watson, Ahmed Kelly, Ashley McConnell, Grant Patterson

 

Bronze - 4
Jesse Aungles - Bronze – 400m Freestyle S8

 

Jasmine Greenwood – Bronze – 400m Freestyle S10
Guy Harrison Murray – Bronze – 400m Freestyle S10

 

Madeleine Scott – Bronze – 100m Breaststroke SB9

 

For Australian Dolphins Team requests Cairns, please contact:

 

Lach Searle | 0488 076 088

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