Madeira 2022 kicks off with Firth, Applegate & Fiddes dominating the podium
The World Para Swimming Champions kicked off on Sunday (12 June) in Funchal, Portugal.
Day 1 of the Champions saw Great Britain and Italy dominate in the pool. British swimmers produced the first podium sweep of the 2022 Worlds in the women’s 200m freestyle S14. Bethany Firth finished first followed by Jessica Applegate (silver) and Louise Fiddes (bronze).
Italian swimmers took six gold medals on the first day.
The Championships will be the biggest international Para sport event to take place in the country with 502 athletes from 59 countries set to compete during seven days (12-18 June) at the Funchal Swimming Pools Complex in Madeira Island.
The competition was initially scheduled to 2021 but moved to this year due to the postponement of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo from 2020 to 2021. The pool is a familiar territory to many of the participants as it hosted the 2016 and 2021 European Open Championships.
British Para Swimmers Tully Kearney (S5) and Ellie Challis (SB2) produced the day’s world record-breaking performances.
Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Mexico, Ukraine and USA also bagged gold medals in the opening day at Madeira 2022.
The full British Para Team competing in the Championships can be viewed here
Complete results and medallists from day one at the World Championships can be found here:
The World Championships will be streamed live on World Para Swimming Facebook page and on the Paralympic Games YouTube channel (subject to geo-blocking restrictions in some territories).
Story courtesy of World Para Swimming & British Para-Swimming