Day 4 Heats Wrap World Para Champs

Para sensation Alexa Leary (pictured) smashed out her morning heat of the 100m freestyle at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships and promptly put the timekeepers on watch for a world record tonight.

After the Dolphins most successful night in the pool thus far in Singapore, Leary and teammate Callum Simpson are hot to keep the medal party going tonight as favourites to win their respective Paralympic gold medal events.

For Leary this year, it’s not a matter of what colour medal but what time can she do in tonight’s 100m freestyle S9 – her world record event.

Since her maiden Paralympic gold in Paris, Leary has broken the S9 world record three times this year. The Gold Coast-based swimmer shaved down her world-best mark of 59.22 set at Australian Open Championships to 58.89 during the Sydney Open.

And then at Australian Trials in June, Leary was 0.01 of a second off her world record and admitted then she was saving herself for the big show – well here it is.

Don’t miss Leary race the clock and fellow Dolphins Lakeisha ‘Lucky’ Patterson and Emily Beecroft in the women’s 100m freestyle S9 final tonight at 10:50pm AEST.

Leary went 58.95 in this morning’s heat to set a championship record. Patterson swum one of her quickest times in the event (1:04.97) and qualified third. Beecroft backed up from her 100m fly bronze medal and went through to tonight’s final in fifth position.

Meanwhile Simpson, already a 400m freestyle bronze medallist at this meet, posted the fastest qualifying time of 57.89 in this morning’s heats and will face USA’s Noah Jaffe tonight at 7:54pm AEST in the battle for the world title. But watch out for Italy’s Alberto Amodeo who qualified second fastest (58.98).

Simpson was still in Year 11 when he made his Dolphins debut in Paris and then stunned the world with a fingernail touch of 0.02 second to out touch Jaffe and win gold in the men’s 100m freestyle S8.

“It would mean the world to me get another gold medal on the world stage. It’s something that I’ve been training hard for, to get that world champion title and if I can do it tonight, I’ll be super stoked,” Simpson said.

It’s going to be a tight one! Watch all the action in Australia live via Paralympics YouTube live stream, finals start 7:30pm AEST.

Night 4 Dolphins Program

• 7:54pm AEST – Men’s 100m Freestyle S8: Callum Simpson
• 10:50pm AEST – Women’s 100m freestyle S9: Alexa Leary, Emily Beecroft, Lucky Patterson

The 2025 Singapore World Para Swimming Championships, from 21-27 September, will be available to watch in Australia via Paralympics YouTube live stream. Heats start 11am AEST, finals from 7.30pm AEST.

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.