It’s a World Record but not my personal best

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Tokyo 2020 Paralympian Pernilla Lindberg from Sweden claimed her second Virtus World Record at the European Summer Games 2022 (VESG 2022). Pernilla broke the Women’s II1 800m Freestyle with 9:22.52 and the Women’s II1 400m Freestyle with 4:34.19

However, the swimmer was not happy with her performance.

“I know it’s a World Record but I am not happy about it because it is NOT my personal best.”

Pernilla explained to Virtus that she had swum faster in a previous event, however, that had not been recognised as a World record, and so was looking to go one better in the European Summer Games.

Pernilla Lindberg posing with Eva Coronado after their race. P.C- Roger Lindberg

In addition, the Swedish swimmer won Gold in Women’s II1 100m Backstroke and was delighted with that performance after setting a Swedish record, which is also her personal best.

“Pernilla always focuses on giving her personal best” said Pernilla’s coach and father, Roger Lindberg.

Angelova wins first medal for Bulgaria at 2022 Virtus European Summer Games

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Bulgarian athlete Angelova Radena scripted history today by winning the very first Virtus medal for Bulgaria in Women’s II2 Triathlon event.

With a total of eight athletes, team Bulgaria participated in their first event ever at the 2022 Virtus European Summer Games.

“It is a perfect moment for me because I have won my first medal which is also my country’s first medal.”

Angelova dedicated her medal to her coach.

Angelova celebrating after her win

Talking to Virtus, the Bulgarian coach expressed how special the medal is,  not just for the athlete, but also for the entire country.

“I feel very proud of my athletes today. They were participating for the first time so we didn’t have any expectations but Angelova made me extremely happy with her result. Virtus competitions are all about elite performance and our athletes were not that good. For about eight years we have been trying to improve their performance and they finally qualified for the Virtus European Games.”

“It was a very long journey for us and this is something very big for Bulgaria and it will motivate all the athletes back there to push their limits, improve their performance and give a new start for the elite performance sports back in the country,” the team coach said.

II2 is a class for athletes with an intellectual disability and additional functional impairment.

Nathan Maillet sets new World Records

Nathan Maillet from France broke the World record in 100m Freestyle mens with a timing of 53.74secs. Talking to Virtus, the swimmer mentioned his strategy for his race.

Nathan Maillet from France

“When we arrived there, I had a staff at my service and, in fact, we established a major strategy with Bertrand Sebire, national coach. The strategy was that I go unnoticed compared to other swimmers. I correctly followed my strategy and that’s how I was able to break the world record. For me, it was crazy and frankly, I still have trouble believing that I actually did it.”

Two more World Records for Spanish Team

It was another thrilling day for the Spanish swimming team on the second day of the 2022 Virtus European Summer Games.

Both Women’s II-1 and Men’s II-1 relay team from Spain broke two more records in Men’s and Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay event. They clocked a time of 5:06.62secs and 4:18.44ecs to set the new records respectively.

The full results can be accessed from here. 

Six World Records from Spanish swimmers on Day 1 of 2022 VESG

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What a blistering start to the 2022 Virtus European Summer Games!

Eleven medal events took place at the AWF Swimming pool on the first day where seven World records were broken. Spanish swimmers stole the spotlight by setting six new records in the short course swimming events.

Tokyo 2020 Paralympian – Eva Coronado sets the first record of the day

Eva Coronado Tejeda broke two records within a single day in Women’s II-1 50m Butterfly. She broke the first record in the heats by timing 31.21sec and, later in the finals, the Spanish swimmer broke her own record with 30.58sec.

Eva Coronado posing after her Record breaking performance

“I trained so hard to have good results in this championship but I didn’t expect that I will break the World Record. I’m so happy. I never imagined that I will break a world record ever in my life.” Eva told Virtus.

Eva also grabbed the Gold medal in 50M Butterfly and 4x50m Medley relay with her team.

Adrian grabbed the second sport of Record Breaker

Adrian Longaron posing for Virtus

In the same event, Adrian Longaron from Spain followed the same pattern of setting two new records within a day. The first record was set in the heats and later in the finals, he broke his own record by clocking the timer at 26.65sec.

Talking to Virtus, Adrian expressed how he was just trying to swim fast and correct his mistakes from past events.

“I realised I made some mistakes before by keeping my head too high, so I was just trying to swim fast whilst correcting my stroke. I wanted to win the event by beating everyone, especially Misha Palazzo from Italy. But I didn’t expect to set a new record.”

Pernilla intervened the hat-trick of world records by Spanish swimmers

Finishing with a time of 9:22.52secs, Swedish Paralympic swimmer Lindberg Pernilla set the third new World Record for the Women’s II-1 800m Freestyle and was very delighted with her event.

She also claimed Gold in the 100m Breaststroke and Silver in the 50m Butterfly.

New records for relay set by Spanish teams

Both Men’s II-1 and Women’s II-1 relay teams from Spain concluded the first day of competition with spectacular performances by setting two new records in Men’s and Women’s 4x50m Medley Relay event. They clocked a time of 1:57.85secs and 2:18.81secs respectively.

The full result can be accessed from here. 

Virtus European Summer Games 2022 declared open

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The Virtus European Summer Games 2022 were officially declared open today in Cracow, Poland at the WKS Wawel stadium. This is the second edition of the Virtus European Regional Games hosted by Virtus Polish member SPRAWNI-RAZEM .

The ceremony began at 18:00 CEST on 17 July and was attended by the Mayor of the Royal City of Cracow, Jacek Majchrowski, who took the honorary patronage over the 2nd Virtus European Summer Games.

The Honorary Committee of the Games comprises of the advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland – Paulina Malinowska-Kowalczyk, President of the Polish Paralympic Committee – Łukasz Szeliga, Minister of Sport & Tourism – Kamil Bortniczuk, President of the Polish Athletics Association – Henryk Olszewski, President of the Polish Basketball Association – Radosław Piesiewicz and President of the Polish Tennis Association- Mirosław Skrzypczyński.

Expressing her excitement for the games, the President of the Republic of Poland – Paulina Malinowska-Kowalczyk said, “The 2022 Virtus Summer Games, Cracow dedicated to athletes with an intellectual impairment will gather nearly 600 players from over 18 countries who will compete in nine disciplines. So, it is going to be an extraordinary celebration of sports. I am very pleased that this group will also include medalists from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.”

Mr. Dariusz Mosakowski, President of SPRAWNI-RAZEM giving his welcome speech

“We were very excited to win the bid to host the 2022 European Summer Games in Poland in 2018, but we did not foresee the Covid-19 pandemic and the terrible war beyond our eastern border. Despite many adversities, with a huge organisational effort, we managed to prepare such a large event. Thank you to everyone who accepted our invitation to take part in the event.” said Mr. Dariusz Mosakowski, President of SPRAWNI-RAZEM.

Addressing the crowd, Virtus President, Marc Truffaut said,  “The first edition of the European Games was in Paris, France in 2018 and it’s a pleasure for me to be here in Cracow, Poland for the 2nd edition. Four years ago we opened the way to the regional games and this year we have two regional games – in Cracow, Poland for the European region and in Brisbane, Australia for the Oceania-Asia region, and I think it’s all because of our fantastic athletes and the dedicated volunteers and member organisation.”

“I would like to thank the host member- SPRAWNI-RAZEM and the people of Poland for hosting us all for the game.”

The event is taking place from 16 to 24 July. The championship will be attended by representatives of eighteen countries from the European region including Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey who will compete across nine sports. Invited athletes from Australia will compete in the Tennis event and athletes from Ecuador will join in the Cycling event.

The nine sports on offer are athletics, swimming, table tennis, basketball, handball, tennis, cycling, rowing, and badminton, a new discipline in the Virtus competition calendar. The competitions will be organized at the sports facilities of the city of Cracow – WKS Wawel Stadium, KS Cracovia 100th Anniversary Hall with the Disabled Sports Center, KS Bronowianka sports hall, Sports and Recreation Center Kolna, and the AWF Cracow Swimming Pool. Cycling, on the other hand, will take place near Kraków in the Niepołomice Forest.

The Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the City of Cracow, the Sports Infrastructure Authority in Cracow and the Waterworks of the City of Cracow are the supporting partners of the games.

Media coverage for the championship will be provided by TVP Sport, TVP3 Cracow and Parasportowcy.pl.

For more information about the games, please visit the Virtus European Summer Games website www.vesg.eu

Five things to know about the 2022 Virtus European Games

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As the 2022 Virtus European Summer Games are going to commence from tomorrow, here are five things you need to know about the games-

Second edition of European Games

SPRAWNI-RAZEM will be scripting history by hosting the second edition of the Virtus Regional Games in Europe. This multi sport event will be kicking off from 17th July until 23rd July in the beautiful city of Kraków, Poland.

The first edition of the games were hosted by the French Federation of Adapted Sports (FFSA) from 14 to 22 July 2018 in Paris, France.

Live stream of Opening and Closing ceremony

The Opening ceremony will be live streamed on 17th July on Virtus YouTube Channel at 1800 CEST and can be accessed using the link below.

Link for the live-streaming of the closing ceremony live-stream will be shared later this Friday i.e., on 23rd July.

Event schedules and results

The event schedules, results, and other information are now available on the Virtus European Summer Games website. Participants are requested to check the website daily and follow the latest schedule available on the website.

Live-stream of sports competitions

All the events from Athletics, Swimming, and Basketball venues will be live-streamed on Virtus YouTube channel and links will be shared on Virtus social media channels (Facebook , Instagram and Twitter) every morning.

Debut of Badminton in Virtus event

After years of waiting, Badminton is scheduled to make its first debut in the Virtus competition calendar at the Virtus European Summer Games. The final matches will be played on 21st.

World Record broken by Bandeira in 200m Individual Medley

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Day 5 highlights from World Para-Swimming Championship, Madeira 2022

Men’s 200m IM

Nicholas Bennett, Gabriel Bandeira and Dmytro Vanzenko (from left)

It was another great swim for the rising star from Brazil, Gabriel Bandeira in the pool today. Bandeira, who was looking strong from the initial lap itself, claimed another Championship title along with a New World Record with 2:07.50sec.

Taking the second place was Canada’s favourite – Nicholas Bennet with 2:10.23sec.

While there was a close fight for the bronze between the Bazilian Oliviera and Ukraine’s Dmytro Vanzenko, but the Ukrainian took the final shot and won the Bronze.

Women’s 200m IM

Jessica-Jane, Bethany Firth and Louise Fiddles from GBR (from left)

British swimmers once again had a dramatic win in Women’s 200m IM. It was an exciting race between the British rivals and friends, Jessica-Jane Applegate and Bethany Firth in 200m IM today. Both the swimmers took a significant lead from rest of the swimmers whilst challenging one another. Bethany took out Jessica in the third lap with her strong breaststroke and won her first World championship title in this event with 2:26.69sec.

Meanwhile, Paige Leonhardt from Australia caught up with Jessica for the second place but Jessica used her long pulls in the final lap of freestyle to grab the silver with 2:30.19sec.

The ultimate twist came in the race when Louise Fiddes beat Paige by just 0:00.07sec and took the final podium spot, making it another British podium from this event. She clocked a time of 2:32.10 sec.

Skip to 1:50:21 to watch the race.

Yamaguchi breaks Championship record two times in 100m Breaststroke

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SB14 Men’s 100m Breaststroke

This was one of the most dramatic event in S14 category so far. Naohide Yamaguchi (JPN), Gabrield Bandeira (BRA), Jake Michel (AUS) and Brutos de Oliveira (BRA) staged a thrilling race for the audience, especially in the first 50m where all the four swimmers took the turns almost at the same time. But, it was the Paralympic champion and WR holder Yamaguchi who took an easy lead later and defended his title.

The Japanese swimmer broke the Championship record twice in this event at Madeira 2022, setting it at 1:04.46sec.

Jake Michel (AUS), Naohide Yamaguchi (JPN) and Brutos de Oliveira (BRA) (from left)

Winning the Silver was Jake Michel who had a tough fight from the Brazilians- Bandeira and Oliveira, but managed to protect his ranking with a timing of 1:05.02sec. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic podium ranking was repeated in the finals of Men’s SB14 100m breaststroke for the first two places.

Brutos de Oliveira settled for the Bronze with 1:05.29sec while Bandeira celebrated his fourth position, improving his timing and ranking compared to Tokyo 2020 where he couldn’t get into the finals.

SB14 100m Women’s Breaststroke

The triple Paralympic Champion, Michele Alonso Morales from Spain took the lead from the start and had a clean win over her fellow swimmers with 1:15.13sec.

Paige Leonhardt (AUS), Michele Alonso (ESP) and Debora Carneiro (BRA) (from left)

Alonso has been dominating this event for almost a decade now, won gold in 2013 and in 2017 and set the World Record at the Tokyo Paralympics.

There was a challenging race between Brazil’s Debora Carneiro and Paige Leonhardt for the second place but in the end Paige took the silver home with 1:16.44sec and Carneiro settles for the Bronze with 1:17.25sec.

Skip to 52:50 to watch the race and 1:44:50 for the medal ceremony

Championship record broken twice by Benjamin Hance in one day

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On day-2, the audience witnessed thrilling races at the finals of S-14 100m Backstroke.

S14 Men’s 100m Backstroke

World record holder from Australia, Benjamin Hance had a sensational swim in S14 Men’s 100m Backstroke breaking the championship record twice in one day. Keeping his performance at top notch, Hance stayed ahead of all the swimmers from the very beginning and had a smooth win with 57.34secs (CR), breaking his previous record which he broke during the qualifying heats in the morning (57.77sec).

(From left) Gabriel Bandeira (BRA), Benjamin Hance (AUS) and Alexander Hillhouse (DEN)

Gabriel Bandeira (BRA) tried to catch up with Benjamin but could not beat last years’ Paralympic Champion and settled for Silver with a timing of 59.86sec.

There was a tough fight between Vasyl Krainyk from Ukraine and Alexander Hillhouse from Denmark but it was the 18 year old Danish swimmer who grabbed the final spot on the podium with a timing of 1:00.32sec.

S14 Women’s 100m Backstroke

Another clean sweep of medals was done by the women from Great Britain.

While the audience was hooked up on the fastest swimmer from the heats – Poppy Maskill (GBR) who was competing in her first World Championship, Bethany Firth was a very experienced player to defeat in her favourite event.

(From left) Poppy Maskill, Bethany Firth and Jessica-Jane Applegate from GBR

The seventeen year old, Maskill gave Firth a tough competition but Bethany, with her quick reaction time and great finishing strategy, defended her championship title successfully.

The three time Paralympic Champion – Bethany took the Gold with a time of 1:06.96sec while Maskill touched the finish line at 1:07.59sec and was delighted to take Silver with her from her first World Championship. 

Soares de Oliveira from Brazil tried to challenge Jessica-Jane for the bronze in the last 25m but Jessica took bronze just by a margin of 0:00.48sec.

Skip to 2:44.01 to watch the race and to 3:31.46 for the medal ceremony.

 

New Championship Record for Bandeira at Madeira 2022

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The World Para-swimming Championship kicked off yesterday in the beautiful island of Madeira. The event will continue until 18 June.

On day-1, the audience witnessed some thrilling race for the final of S-14 200m freestyle for Men and Women.

S14 Men’s 200m Freestyle

While all eyes were glued on World Record holder and Paralympic champion Reece Dunn from Great Britain, Gabriel Bandeira from Brazil and Nicholas Bennett from Canada put up a dramatic race for the audience.

(From left) Nicholas Bennett (CAN), Gabriel Bandeira (BRA) and Benjamin Hance (AUS) P.C- World Para Swimming

Leading the race in the first lap was Gabriel Bandeira who was soon left behind by Nicholas in the second lap giving some hope to Canadians for the Gold. However, Gabriel made a great comeback in the third lap and grabbed the gold with a new World Championship record of 1:52.42sec leaving the silver for Nicholas (1:54.41sec).

Bandeira missed the world record just by 0:00.02sec.

Benjamin Hance from Australia settles for Bronze with a timing of 1:56.14sec.

Skip to 1:33.00 to watch the race and to 2:49.22sec for the medal ceremony.

S14 Women’s 200m Freestyle

World Record holder Bethany Firth from Great Britain lead the race from the beginning. With almost a 5m gap by the end of the second lap, it was difficult for her fellow British swimmer Jessica-Jane Applegate to close up the distance who was swimming in the second place.

(From left) Jessica-Jane, Bethany Firth and Louise Fiddes from GBR P.C- World Para Swimming

Australia’s Ruby Storm was chasing Louise Fiddes for the Bronze but was not successful in her attempt.

The podium was dominated by the British swimmers, with Bethany (2:08.72sec) taking the Gold, Jessica-Jane taking the Silver with 2:10.26sec and Louise Fiddes grabbing the last podium spot with 2:13.07sec.

Skip to 1:39.0 to watch the race and to 2:52.40sec for the medal ceremony.

 

For live results, visit https://www.paralympic.org/madeira-2022/schedule-results

Virtus welcomes five new members to the family- Karate to be in GG2023

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Five new members were welcomed to the Virtus family on 5th June during the Federations General Assembly.

National Member Organisations for Latvia and Bulgaria were joined by the International Federations World Karate and EDGA (golf). Meanwhile in the National Federation category, Shinshidokan-Kai was approved (Pakistan).

Zane Skujina- representing Latvia was present in the assembly and was very excited to be part of Virtus.

 

Zane Skujina from Latvia with Barry Holman (left) and Marc Truffaut (right) from Virtus

“Joining Virtus Sport is a big stepping stone for the Latvian Paralympic committee and the people with intellectual impairment in Latvia. Over the years we had people, who were interested in sports for people with II, but we could only offer them local sports communities, without any chance of getting to be an elite-level athletes. Now, being a Virtus member opens so many doors not only for inclusion but also for elite sports. We are happy to be a part of the Virtus family and looking forward to develop sports community for people with intellectual impairment.” says Ms. Skujina.

With World Para-Karate Federation becoming one of Virtus new member and considering the success athletes with intellectual impairments (K21 and K22 class) had in 2021 World Para-Karate Championship in Dubai, Virtus have now decided to include Karate in the upcoming 2023 Global Games in Vichy as a full medal event.

Dušana Čierna Augustovičová (centre) from WKF with Barry Holman (left) and Marc Truffaut (right)

“To be a full Virtus member is a step forward in our intention to maximize opportunities in the development of Karate for people with intellectual impairment.” says Ms. Dušana Čierna Augustovičová from World Para-Karate federation.

“I am so glad the Virtus Governing Board included para-karate classes K21 and K22 into the program of the Virtus Global Games. It is the signature event for elite athletes with intellectual impairments to compete in the highest level, international multi-sport” elite competition. It is exciting because it is also the pathway to the Paralympics in several disciplines.”

Virtus President- Marc Truffaut says, “We are very delighted to welcome new members onboard with us and with their support, we will be nurturing new talents into elite sports for athletes with an intellectual impairment”

With the addition of new national members, Virtus now has 95 member organisations, the largest in the history of the organisation.