Day 5 Heats Wrap World Para Champs

STRAP yourself in.

Day 5 has delivered the busiest night of finals yet at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships with nine Dolphins and a star-studded relay team through to the finals in Singapore.

Experienced campaigners Brenden Hall and Lakeisha ‘Lucky’ Patterson (pictured) opened up ‘Super Thursday’ as second fastest qualifiers in their respective 400m freestyle signature events.

For Hall, Singapore marked a record seventh world championships appearance, and the 32-year-old is gunning for a twelfth world championship medal in tonight’s final.

Hall and 2022 Commonwealth Games athlete Harrison Vig qualified second (4:21.22) and third (4:21.27) respectively behind France’s Ugo Didier (4:20.82). Brisbane’s bronzed 100m butterflier Lewis Bishop swum a PB of 4:30.28 and is first reserve.

In the women’s 400m field, defending 2023 world champion Patterson qualified second (4:48.15) ahead of Paris Paralympic champion Zsofia Konkoly (Hungary) who qualified fifth. Croatia’s Emma Mecic went out hard in heat two and claimed lane four with a leading time of 4:45.40.

“There’s always that level of expectation as a past champion but I feel like this time I’m coming into it as kind of an underdog,” Patterson said.

“For me, it’s not even really about redemption, it’s more about proving that I have the resilience to keep going no matter what. I know it will be a pretty packed final and everyone’s going to give it their best but so will I, so don’t count me out.”

In the men’s 50m freestyle S8, Callum Simpson set his fourth Oceania record of the meet and has a shot for a third consecutive podium finish after posting the top qualifying time of 26.54.

This comes less than 24-hours after the 18-year-old won gold in the 100m freestyle S8 in an Oceania record time of 57.15. Earlier this week, Simpson won bronze with a PB in the 400m freestyle S8 clocking 4:25.76.

Tonight, the Dolphins will field a glittering mixed medley 34pt relay team with every single swimmer having already claimed a medal at this meet.

In this morning’s heats, Tom Gallagher (S10) – who won 50m freestyle silver and is the only para swimmer at Dean Boxall’s St Peters Western club – led off in backstroke with 200 IM champion Tim Hodge (SB8) following in breaststroke.

Bronze 100m fly medallist Emily Beecroft (S9) was next in the butterfly leg before the final change to silver 400m free medallist Chloe Osborn (S7) who locked in Team Australia for lane four in the final.

Tonight’s relay final will feature teams Great Britain, Spain, United States, Czechia and Canada up against Australia.

In other results:

• Jasmine Greenwood, who made her Dolphins debut at the age of 12 at the Mexico 2017 World Championships, has stood on the women’s 100m butterfly S10 podium at the past three consecutive world championships. As fourth qualifier, don’t rule out Greenwood to make it a fourth podium tonight. Fellow Dolphin Poppy Wilson snuck in and qualified eighth for the final.

• Col Pearse and Alex Saffy toughed it out in the men’s 100m butterfly S10 heat and qualified second and fifth respectively. Both Dolphins have won bronze in the event at the Paralympic Games – Pearse in Tokyo and Saffy at his Games debut in Paris.

• Two-time Paralympian Ricky Betar celebrated his 22^nd birthday today with a morning dip in the 200m individual medley SM14 heats and qualified seventh for tonight’s final.

• Ahmed Kelly closed off his Singapore program, headlined by Tuesday night’s silver 150m IM SM3 medal, with a 52.96 in the men’s 50m freestyle S3 heat.

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