(Sportcom) – Aurélie Rivard (S10) had a perfect day in the pool at Melbourne Sports Center on Saturday in Australia. The Quebecer won the 50m freestyle and 100m multi-class freestyle finals at the first stop of the Para-Swimming World Series.
Rivard, Friday’s silver medalist in the 100 backstroke, was fastest in both distances in qualifying and then kept the pace up in the final.
In her first final of the day, in the 50m freestyle S1-S14, where she defeated Japan’s Ayano Tsujiuchi and Australia’s Kiera Stephens to win the overall standings, which are weighted by times and athlete classifications.
Myriam Soliman and Danielle Kisser were stopped in the preliminary round and finished 12th and 13th respectively, while Clémence Paré is 16th in this event.
A little later, in the 100m freestyle final, Aurélie Rivard was back on the podium, this time with Emily Beecroft and Kiera Stephens, both from Australia. Routliffe (SB7) was in this final and finished fourth.
Tess Routliffe The Montreal adoptee also stood out, winning gold in the 100m breaststroke SB2-SB14 to start her season brilliantly. The 24-year-old athlete overtook the Australians Paige Leonhardt and Kiera Stephens in turn.
Ariana Hunsicker also finished fourth in this final, just behind Stephens. Danielle Kisser and Myriam Soliman could not reach the final. They finished the preliminary round in 11th and 21st place.
In the men’s event, Alexander Elliot swam in two finals, finishing sixth in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.
James Leroux achieved the same result in the 100 m breaststroke, a competition in which Félix Cowan placed 22nd in the qualification. Cowan also finished 18th in the 50 freestyle.
The competition continues on Sunday with the presentation of the 50m butterfly, backstroke, medley and 200m freestyle.