Aurélie Rivard climbed to the top of the podium in the 50m freestyle A at the World Para-swimming Series in Aberdeen, Scotland, on Sunday. The athlete from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu stopped the clock at 27.91 s, which gave him a score of 948 points for his S10 class.
At the World Series, athletes from different handicap classes compete in the same race and the score is calculated pro rata for each class.
On the podium, Rivard was accompanied by Arianna Hunsicker (899 points, class S10), bronze medalist. The Brazilian Mariana Ribeiro (912 points, class S9) was inserted between the two Quebecers.
“This is the first international competition of the Paralympic year and we are in the training period. The goal was just to swim as quickly as possible to see where we are before the selections which are in three months, said the gold medalist. I’m happy to have finished with a good time in the 50 meters and to have broken 28 seconds, in addition to having won the gold medal. I’m going to take what I’ve learned here and continue to work on it for the next three months. »
In this same event, but among the men this time, Nicolas-Guy Turbide (class S13) collected bronze with his time of 25.20 s, good for 781 points. The Frenchman Dimitri Granjux was not the fastest with his 44.06 s, but it was his S3 class which made the difference in the points where he finished with 1041 points. The Dutchman Rogier Dorsman (25.69 s, class 11) was silver medalist with his 912 points.
Turbide said he was satisfied with his performance given that his training has been limited since the start of the new year.
“This competition is more of a return to form for me, because I broke a finger in December. It’s only been two weeks since I’ve been back in the water. Honestly, it’s a good performance and I’m quite happy. »
Alexander Elliot was the other Quebecer to reach an A final, that of the 100m butterfly. The S10 class para-swimmer took seventh place with 726 points.
For his part, Philippe Vachon (S8) took part in the B finals of the 50m freestyle and the 100m butterfly, two races where he placed fifth.