Madeira 2024: Hat-trick for Rogier Dorsman – Paralympic.org
Rogier Dorsman from the Netherlands made it three gold medals in three days of the Madeira 2024 Para Swimming European Open Championships as he clinched the men’s 100m breaststroke SB11 victory on Tuesday (23 April).
The 24-year-old who had won the 50m freestyle S11 on Sunday and 100m butterfly S11 on Monday, was unstoppable and led the final race from start to finish, clocking in at 1:10.42 – 11 hundreds of a second from his own European record – to beat runner-up Danylo Chufarov from Ukraine convincingly by 4.06 seconds. Lithuania’s Edgaras Matakas clinched the bronze.
The world and Paralympic champion can now also call himself a European 100m breaststroke SB11 title holder, completing his set of gold medals in the event he has dominated in recent years.
Italy’s Carlotta Gilli completed another kind of hat-trick as she won her third consecutive European gold medal in the women’s 100m freestyle S13.
The world record holder had been the fastest in the heats and made no mistake in the final to take her second gold medal at Madeira 2024, having crushed the opposition in the women’s 100m butterfly S13 on Sunday. Spain’s Emma Feliu Martin took silver, 0.93 second behind the winner, as neutral athlete Aleksandra Ziablitseva claimed bronze.
After 3 days of races at #Madeira2024, 🇮🇹 Italy keep leading the medals tally followed by 🇺🇦 Ukraine.
🇬🇧 Great Britain, 🇳🇱 Netherlands, and 🇪🇸 Spain complete the Top 5.
🔗 Check out full results of day 3 & medals standings: https://t.co/XNFcu1eI1d#ParaSwimming #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/qtu3onTrK1
Her teammate Alberto Amodeo also made it two gold medals on the Portuguese island as he finished first in the men’s 100m butterfly S8 final, adding a new title to Sunday’s 400m freestyle S8 triumph. Portugal’s Diogo Cancelo finished third to earn the host nation its first medal of the championships.
In another contribution to the Italian medal haul, world champion Simone Barlaam was the only swimmer in the men’s 100m butterfly S9 final to get below the one-minute mark, making the most of his wide wingspan to take the gold medal in 59.06. Behind him, Germany’s Malte Braunschweig, Ireland’s Barry McClements and Italy’s Federico Morlacchi battled it out from the two remaining medals, finishing within 0.34 of a second of each other. Braunschweig came out winning the race for second place, clinching the silver medal 2.22 seconds behind the winner and 13 hundredths of a second before McClements, who took bronze.
“It’s always lovely to be in Madeira and to break the ice with my first race like this,” Barlaam said. “I want to enjoy the whole experience here, there have been some phenomenal swim from Team Italy, but also from swimmers from Europe and other part of the world these days.”
Italy’s Giulia Ghiretti had won the women’s 100m breaststroke SB4 gold medal on Sunday and was the woman to beat in Tuesday’s 50m butterfly S5, where she was the defending champion. However, Turkey’s Sevilay Ozturk, a 2023 world championship bronze medallist who finished second in Monday’s 50m backstroke S5, had different plans. The 20-year-old, who had had to settle for silver medals in the past two European championships, took an early lead and managed to keep the rest of the field behind her for the rest of the race. Ozturk clinched the long-awaited gold medal with a dominant performance, finishning 4.28 seconds before Ghiretti as her compatriot Sumeyye Boyaci made it two times Turkey on the podium.
Great Britain claimed three of Tuesday’s 20 gold medals, with two teenage talents and Paralympic champion Maisie looking in great form. Shooting star Iona Winnifrith continued her successful debut run as she claimed her second gold medal at Madeira 2024 in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB7. Winnifrith, who turned 13 earlier this month, made a strong minute to finish in 1:29.29 making it two European titles in three days, having won the 200m individual medley SM7 on Sunday. Winnifrith finished 1.75 seconds before neutral athlete Mariia Pavlova as Nahia Zudiare Borrezo clinched bronze 2.88 seconds after the winner.
International major championship debutant Harry Stewart from Great Britain claimed the gold medal in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 with a strong last 50m push. Finishing in 1:06.79, the 19-year-old beat silver medallist Vasyl Krainyk from Ukraine, who had led the race at the half-way turn, by 0.97 of a second. Neutral athlete Artem Pavlenko took bronze.
🇹🇷🥇✨
Sevilay Ozturk 🥇in the women’s 50m Butterfly S5
⏱️44.54 at #Madeira2024 #ParaSwimming @TurkParalimpik @Paralympics @ParaSport pic.twitter.com/udUH6GrxUK
Great Britain’s Maisie Summers-Newton, holding the world record in the women’s 200m individual medley SM6 since taking the title at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, made no mistake to collect the gold medal in the event at Madeira 2024 too. The 21-year-old, who is strong in the breaststroke and freestyle, finished comfortably 8.50 seconds before runner-up Verena Schott from Germany as Nicole Turner from Ireland took bronze, 17.51 after the winner.
“I’m very happy with that. We had our Paralympic trials two weeks ago so this is a meet we have trained well for and have been working hard around it. To achieve this result still in April is really good as we are still some months away from the Paralympic Games,” said Summers-Newton.
Ukraine, second in the overall standings, also had a successful day. Oleksandr Komarov was untouchable in the men’s 50m butterfly S5 final and took the gold medal in 36.14. The 35-year-old kept first chaser Antoni Ponce Bertran from Spain 1.35 second behind as Alexandros-Stylianos Lergios from Greece completed the podium with his first major international medal.
Komarov’s teammate Anton Kol won the men’s 100m backstroke S1 after a close battle for first place with Israel’s Iyad Shalabi. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Kol lost the gold medal to Shalabi by 0.25 second. This time, the two-time Paralympic champion Shalabi was fastest in the first 50m but had to settle for a silver medal as Kol made a last push to finish 0.28 of a second faster than his main rival in the dramatic race where Italy’s Francesco Bettella took bronze.
Germany’s Gina Boettcher, who had won bronze in the women’s 150m individual medley SM4 in the last two European championships, upgrade it to a gold medal this time as she finished 2.06 seconds before the 2021 European champion, neutral athlete Nataliia Butkova, who had to settle for a silver. Ukraine’s Maryna Verbova took bronze.
Zsofia Konkoly from Hungary claimed the gold medal in the women’s 100m butterfly S9, keeping runner-up Florianne Bultje from the Netherlands behind her in a tight finish as Spain’s Sarai Gascon finished third to retain her record of consecutive medals at the European championships with an eight straight podium.
Daria Lukianenko won the women’s 100m breaststroke SB11 gold medal in a world record time. The neutral athlete finished in 1:17.65 to beat the former world record holder Karolina Pelendritou from Cyprus by 3.85 seconds, cutting 2.13 seconds of the Cypriot’s record time from 2021. Italy’s Martina Rabbolini finished third, 15.10 seconds behind the winner.
In the last event of the evening, Spain continued their strong mixed relay run in Madeira, claiming the mixed 4×50 medley relay 20pts gold medal 4.41 seconds before runners-up Ukraine as Italy took bronze.
Click here for all results and medallists from the Madeira 2024 European Open Championships.