Day 3 Heats Wrap World Para Champs

SEVEN Dolphins, six golds and one newly-minted Australian world champion back in action.

Less than 24 hours from his third consecutive 200 IM world title, Tim Hodge was back in the water for the men’s 100m butterfly S9 and promptly secured second qualifying spot (1:00.64) for the final behind Paralympic champion Simone Barlaam (59.64). Brisbane’s rising star Lewis Bishop, who won bronze in his Dolphins debut in Paris, was third fastest (1:01.29).

Veteran Dolphin Brenden Hall took advantage of an early swim to blow out the cobwebs in the fly but will save himself for his pet event the 400m freestyle later this week.

Tonight’s stacked program is off to a cracker with Jake Michel (pictured) lining up behind lane four in Australia’s first final of Day 3.

Picked to be one of the closest races of the night, less than a second split the top three men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 qualifiers this morning – Michel’s 6ft 7′ frame or 200.66cm to be metric and precise – touched first at 1:04.13, followed by Great Britain’s Harry Stewart (1:04.57) and Japan’s Naohide Yamaguchi (1:04.94).

In June at Australian Trials, Michel posted a PB in all six of his races, including a SB14 100m breaststroke national record time of 1:03.74 that would have won him gold in Paris. The Paris Paralympic champion Nicholas Bennett qualified fourth overall for tonight’s final (1:05.78), behind his fellow Paris medal winners Michel (silver) and Yamaguchi (bronze).

Tonight’s 100m breaststroke SB14 final in Singapore will be Michel’s first, and last swim, at what is his fourth world championships campaign.

Emily Beecroft and Paige Leonhardt had a strong first hit out in Singapore and qualified third in their respective medal events. Both experienced Dolphins are looking to secure their first world championship title in Singapore.

All top three qualifiers in Beecroft’s women’s 100m butterfly S9 went under the 1:10 minute mark. For Leonhardt, she will have to break down Brazilians Beatriz De Araujo Flausino and Debora Carneiro Borges in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB14 final.

A revived Alex Tuckfield is back for redemption after a tough 50m freestyle sprint final on opening night that saw Dolphins Rowan Crothers and Tom Gallagher take gold and silver respectively.

Re-classified from S9 to S10 after he won 400m freestyle bronze in Tokyo, Tuckfield looked comfortable in the middle-distance event to claim third spot (4:14.28) in tonight’s S10 400m freestyle final behind US bolter Koehn Boyd (4:09.95) and Netherland’s Bas Takken (4:14.01).