All of Cameron Leslie’s experience came to the fore with the Northland swimmer claiming the Gold medal in the 50m Backstroke S4 at the World Para Swimming Championships, just days after arriving in London and after helping the Wheel Blacks, New Zealand’s Wheelchair rugby team, claim a Bronze medal at the Asia Oceania Zonal Championships.
Leslie, who was up against the Russian swimmer who’d set the World Record in the mornings heat, qualified 3rd for the final, before powering home in a time of 42:13 to also set a new Oceania Record.
“After this morning, I knew I could do better and I knew I could hold a higher rating for longer so that was what we went out to do and yeah I was really surprised the Russian guy in lane four didn’t go so well. He broke a world record in the morning and in the evening he didn’t go so well, but that’s international racing. You’ve got to be able to step it up in the evening and race when it matters.“
“It’s been a pretty hectic week. I’ve played Wheelchair rugby for nine years for New Zealand and never achieved a goal (qualifying for the Paralympics) so I guess it’s been an emotional week, achieving a goal with your team mates like that and then coming away to a swimming competition that I’m really familiar with. It’s been a really hard balancing act but luckily there’s a really good support team to help you make the right choices to put your best foot forward when it comes to a race like this.“
Find out here how to watch the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships and read this article to know more about the New Zealand Para Swimming Team.
Full wrap for DAY 1 available here.
Full wrap for DAY 2 available here.
Full wrap for DAY 3 available here.
