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Night seven of swimming finals saw just three Aussies compete in individual events as well as the first relay of the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games – the men’s 34 point freestyle relay.
Gold medallists in the event at the London Paralympics, thanks to the freestyle dominance of Matthew Cowdrey, the young Aussie team of Timothy Disken, Matthew Levy, Rowan Crothers and Blake Cochrane finished fifth in the race of the night, thanks to a Brazilian crowd cheering home their team to silver medal.
Dual Paralympian Ahmed Kelly was the first Aussie in the water in the SB3 50m breaststroke finishing seventh overall, in a time that was slightly quicker than his heat swim this morning.
Disappointed with the result, Kelly said the competition in his class continues to improve and you have to expect that at the Paralympics.
“Definitely not the result I wanted and it’s very disappointing,” said Kelly.
“Our goal was to try and close the gap from London and to finish top three if we could, and we didn’t achieve that which is disappointing. I know that I put the effort in there tonight, and gave it everything I had.”
“The class is super competitive but at the end of the day, you’re in control of what you do and you give it everything for these Paralympic Games, but you just don’t know whether it’s going to be a good day or a bad day, and unfortunately today was a bad day for me.”
“With any Paralympic Games you learn so much through it, how to handle yourself, how to handle the emotions and how to really focus on what you have to do. I’ll walk away and go what an amazing experience, I’ve learnt this and learnt that, and this is what I could have done better, and this is what I did well.”
In the men’s and women’s S13 50m freestyle Jenna Jones backed up from a new personal best this morning to finish seventh in 28.77, while Sunshine Coast swimmer Braeden Jason was sixth overall in 24.61.
