Day 1 Heats Wrap World Para Champs

Team Australia closed Day 1 heats of the 2025 Singapore World Para Swimming Championships with all seven Dolphins securing a lane for tonight’s finals.

A 1-2-3 Aussie podium is up for grabs in the men’s S10 50m freestyle final that will feature Australia’s Paris Paralympic champion Tom Gallagher (pictured), defending world champion from Manchester 2023 Rowan Crothers and a rejuvenated Alex Tuckfield.

An admittedly relaxed Crothers led heat 1 to post a season’s best time of 23.49. St Peters Western’s Gallagher just edged out his fellow Dolphin for the top qualifying spot with a 23.43 in the second heat.

For Tuckfield, today officially marked his international return since Tokyo Paralympics. The Sydney-based swimmer was reclassified post-Tokyo to a S10 and qualified fifth in tonight’s sprint showdown.

First off the blocks for the largest event on this year’s para swimming calendar was Callum Simpson in the men’s 400m freestyle heat. Simpson, who made his Dolphins debut in Paris, posted a cracking PB and Oceania record time of 4:27.17 to claim fastest qualifier ahead of Canada’s Reid Maxwell.

The Sunshine Coast swimmer and Sydney’s Tim Hodge boast the busiest schedule of the 25-strong Australian Para Dolphins team with four individual events each throughout the week. For Simpson, his Paris Paralympic gold medal event, the men’s 100m freestyle S8, is on Day 4.

Australia’s newest Dolphin Declan Budd went up against Canada’s reigning world champion Nicholas Bennett in the men’s 200m freestyle S14 heat.

The 17-year-old qualified fifth overall for tonight’s final that will feature a tight re-match between top three qualifiers and Paris Paralympic medallists Will Ellard (GBR), Bennett (CAN) and Brisbane’s very own Jack Ireland.

In other results:

• The most senior member of the Australian team, Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson secured his lane for tonight’s men’s 50m breaststroke SB2 final behind top qualifier Mexico’s Jose Arnulfo Castorena.

Full results here: https://www.paralympic.org/swimming/live-results#

Day 1 Finals – starts 5:30pm local (SGT) / 7:30pm AEST

• 7:30PM AEST – Men’s 400m freestyle S8: Callum Simpson
• 7:57PM AEST – Men’s 50m breaststroke SB2: Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson
• 8:58PM AEST – Men’s 200m freestyle S14: Declan Budd, Jack Ireland
• 10:44PM AEST – Men’s 50m freestyle S10: Rowan Crothers, Tom Gallagher, Alex Tuckfield

The 2025 World Para Swimming Championships from 21-27 September will be available to watch in Australia via Paralympics YouTube live stream.

Understanding Para Swimming Classifications:

1.      Physical Impairment (S1-10 / SB1-9 / SM1-10)

2.      Visual Impairment (S11-S13 / SB11-SB13 / SM11-SM13)

3.      Intellectual Impairment (S14 / SB14 / SM14)

S = Freestyle/Backstroke/Butterfly, SB = Breaststroke, SM = Individual Medley.

Note: The lower the number in both physical and visually impaired groups, the greater degree of impairment.