Olivia Newman-Baronius equals S14 World Record
Olivia Newman-Baronius, (class II1/S14) equalled the S14 100m butterfly world record, on a red-hot Saturday night (7 April) at the Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships.
Olivia Newman-Baronius notched her fourth Paralympic nomination time of the meet by matching the 1:03.33 S14 world record on her way to the multi-classification Women’s 100m Butterfly title. The 17 year old won 4 medals in her international debut in the World Series in Italy in March, but the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships are her biggest championships so far.
Olivia has met the Paralympic nomination time in four events, the 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley, plus the 100m butterfly. Now its the wait to see her place confirmed at the European Championships and of course, ultimately the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
Considered the highlight on the Paralympic programme at the Aquatics GB Championships, was the world-record effort from Olivia in a thrilling Women’s MC 100m Butterfly contest, as she took it out hard and held off a brilliant challenge from Poppy Maskill to touch in a 1:03.33, right on the existing S14 world best and securing her the gold on 1000 points. Maskill took silver on 983 points – and her latest nomination standard.
Asked whether she could go under the world record, Olivia said:
“Hopefully by the summer. The week has got better as it’s gone along, I had two days off so that was nice but yeah it’s been fun – I like racing here so it’s good.
“The Para Swimming World Series event in Italy helped a lot for this [week’s experience] because it was my first time performing in front of the cameras there, and here has a bit more publicity so it’s good experience.”
The Championships provided many reasons for another packed London Aquatics Centre crowd to raise the roof this week.
Tracey McCillen, Chief Executive, SportExcel UK commenting on Olivia’s performances said
“This young lady has a bright future ahead of her – what a way for Olivia to make an international debut in Italy and now London!
It is thrilling for us to see that our [SportExcelUK] work in delivering the eligibility and classification system has opened up the Paralympic pathway to such a talented swimmer like Olivia. We wish her all her best in career and are excited to see whats next.”
Friday 5th April saw the Men’s MC 200m Individual Medley was another thriller, as the S14 trio of William Ellard, Rhys Darbey and Cameron Vearncombe battled all the way across the four strokes, Vearncombe moving into the lead by the end of the breaststroke, only for Ellard and Darbey both to move past in the final 25m on freestyle, Ellard winning out, with Darbey taking silver and Vearncombe the bronze.
Crucially, all three were inside the 2:12.91 nomination standard, with Ellard impressing so soon after getting back into the pool following his 100m Butterfly final.
“The recovery between races has been more about the mental side than the physical side for me – through the 100m Fly I felt really good and the time I did gave me confidence coming into the 200m IM,” he said.
“Having Cam and Rhys push me, they’re top guys and really good to be on a team with – racing them really helps push me on to the end.”
The Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships took place in London 2-7th April 2024. For the first time Aquatics GB’s flagship swimming and para-swimming events were fully combined in one momentous competition.
[Story courtesy of British Swimming]