Paralympic Debutants Dominate Podium for S14 100m Butterfly at Paris 2024

Two new records for two Paralympic debutants on the first day of swimming at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. What an amazing start. Athletes were able to feel the energy of the crowd that packed the La Defense Arena.

The athletes from Great Britain performed excellently on this first day of competition in the French capital and won two of the six medals up for grabs for athletes with intellectual impairment.

Among the women, in the 100m butterfly S14, British Poppy Maskill was the big winner of the event and set a new world record with a time of 1:03.00 sec

“I was just hoping that I’d just been the hardest and see what happened, so that’s what I did.”

The 19-year-old had the support of family members in the stands, including her parents and sisters.

She debuted in the Paralympic events in Madeira 2022. She left with a bronze silver and gold medal. She continued to establish herself on the global stage with a medal in all five of her events at the Manchester 2023 world championships including gold in the Mixed S14 4x100m Freestyle Relay.

Hong Kong athlete Yui Lam Chan won the silver medal in 01:03.70 and set a new Asian record.

“I feel very happy. I think it’s better than last time. Because I just got the gold at 100m that time and now I got the silver medal but I swam faster than my last time. It’s my PB and Asian record. I wasn’t nervous fo the finals. I enjoyed the competition. But I think I swam very fast compared to the previous game, so I feel happy.

Neutral swimmer Valeriia Shabalina, 29, took the silver medal with a time of 01:04.40. At the Tokyo Games, she won the gold medal in this event.

In the men’s 100m butterfly S14, Danish swimmer Alexander Hillshouse, 20, was the fastest and finished the race in 54.61, breaking the Paralympic record. Hillhouse was competing in his first Paralympic Games and was proud to be able to call himself a Paralympian now.

“I was a little bit nervous because it’s a huge audience and I have never tried this before but I had a great start in the heats with a new Danish record. I am a Paralympian now and I will be going home with at least one gold and a Paralympic record which is great. William came second and he’s my best friend. We have been hanging out in April and May been talking to each other so much about this event and the games and I’m so happy to have him next to me on the podium.”

Also making his debut, William Ellard, a 16-year-old British swimmer, took the silver medal with a time of 54.86 seconds.

“That’s my main event so I’ve just been doing work on that, really no-fly work, just skill technique work, but yeah, the fitness should be good and just trust my coach here and back home, what we’ve done over. the last couple of months.”

The bronze medal went to Brazilian Gabriel Bandeira, 24, who finished the race in 55.08 seconds. Gabriel is the current world record holder for this race and was the big champion at the 2020 Tokyo Games. He highlighted the evolution of the class.

“The class has evolved, there are strong athletes, and I need to evolve too. This was a year of many demands on me, on myself, and this was the first time this year that I swam the 100m butterfly in 55sec”.

On Saturday, the 31st,  athletes will turn to compete in the longest distance for the S14 class, the 200m freestyle.