More medals and National records for NZ Team at 2018 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships

The New Zealand Para Swimming Team continued to build on results as day 2 of competition at the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in Cairns, Australia saw the total medal tally rise to 5 in total (2 x gold, 2 x silver, 1 x bronze).

With a further 2 years to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games the Team produced 3 personal best times and 3 national records.

One of the 3 new national records was smashed by the Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay team of Jesse Reynolds, Celyn Edwards, Christopher Arbuthnott and Hamish McLean who not only won a silver medal but smashed the national record by over 20 seconds that was set at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games.

Sophie Pascoe took silver in the Women’s 100m Freestyle S10 behind long time rival Aurelie Rivard from Canada. Sophie said: “It was a good start tonight in terms of getting into the pool and getting some racing under my belt. It sets me up nicely for tomorrow’s 200m Individual Medley race which I’m really looking forward to and it is one of my favoured events.“ She continued: “Aurelie [Rivard from Canada] is a great rival in the pool and she very dominant in the freestyle disciplines. I really enjoy having that challenge against her.“

Hamish McLean continued to build on his gold medal win from yesterday to bag another gold in the Men’s 100 Freestyle S6 and a personal best time.

International debutant Amanda Lowry thrived on the atmosphere at her first ever international meet and reduced her personal best time by a staggering 6 seconds, which is made even more impressive by the fact that she has been part of the Paralympics New Zealand High Performance Programme for only 6 months. Amanda will look forward to continuing to build on her international experience tomorrow in her final race tomorrow the Women’s 50m Backstroke S3.

Chris Arbuthnott swam a personal best time in the Men’s 100m Freestyle S9 bettering his time set in the pool in the same event at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Simon Mayne (Para Swimming Performance Coach) said when asked about the Men’s relay team: “They swam really well individually with some great results tonight. There was a bit of apprehension going into this event for the team having to back up from individual events yesterday and today. It was really exciting for them as it is not something that happens very often for New Zealand Para Swimmers to compete as a relay team.“ He continued: “After two days the meet is going well for the New Zealand Para Swimming Team overall. We have our preferred races coming up in the next two days, so we are all looking forward to that.“

Day 3 of racing (11 August) for the New Zealand Team will see:
• Heats 12.00 NZT – Women’s 50m Backstroke: Amanda Lowry
• Heats 12.07 NZT – Women’s 200m Individual Medley: Sophie Pascoe
• Heats 12.29 NZT – Men’s 200m Individual Medley: Celyn Edwards, Hamish McLean, Jesse Reynolds, Chris Arbuthnott
Finals – pending qualification:
• 7.06pm NZT – Women’s 50m Backstroke: Amanda Lowry
• 7.56pm NZT – Women’s 200m Individual Medley: Sophie Pascoe
• 8.17pm onwards NZT – Men’s 200m Individual Medley: Celyn Edwards, Hamish McLean, Jesse Reynolds, Chris Arbuthnott

Results to date include: