PARALYMPICS
SWIMMING
By TOM HAYES
TRARALGON’S Emily Beecroft went one better after fellow Traralgon swimmer, Ruby Storm claimed silver at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Storm played a part in the silver medal-winning team in the S14 Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay on Monday, September 2 (AEST).
Earlier on September 2, Beecroft entered the pool for the first time at the Games, for the heats of the 34 Points Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay.
The Australian team of Beecroft, Keira Stephens, Jesse Aungles, and Callum Simpson put in an almighty shift, winning the first heat to confirm progression to the final.
In doing so, the four Aussies eventually finished with the second-best overall time after completion of the other heat, immediately putting them in medal contention.
Entering the final later that night, Beecroft was joined by Aungles, Timothy Hodge, and Alexa Leary, as Stephens and Simpson sat out of the final.
The relay started with Aungles and Hodge in the pool, the two started with impressive times for the first half of the race. Nonetheless, at this point of the race, Australia was still second to the Netherlands – the nation that recorded the fastest time during the heats.
Beecroft swam third of the four, putting in the fastest 50m split so far for the team, but was still seven seconds off the pace from the Dutch team when Alexa Leary entered the water.
Leary clinched three seconds from the Dutch in the first 50m, setting up a thrilling finish. Launching toward the finish, she wasn’t going to be stopped, climbing from four seconds behind in the final 50m to win by a second.
Gold for Australia. Gold for Beecroft.
It was Beecroft’s first-ever Paralympic gold medal, after claiming silver and bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Beecroft still had two more events in the coming days, starting with the S9 100m Freestyle.
The heats began on the evening of September 4 (AEST). In Heat 1, Beecroft finished third to almost certainly gain progression to the final.
In the second heat, her Australian relay teammate, Leary, not only won her heat, but also claimed a world record in the process with a 59.60. Nonetheless, Beecroft had the fourth best time overall.
Beecroft improved in the final, but her overall position did not. She swam eight tenths faster than her heat, but finished the final in fourth. Leary remained head and shoulders above everyone else, claiming gold and beating her own world record she set hours before with a 59.53.
For her final event of the Paralympics, Beecroft made a splash in the S9 100m Butterfly. She came third in the second heat, recording the fourth-fastest time overall to easily progress to the final.
With her eyes set on her first-ever individual Paralympic medal, Beecroft had her best chance yet.
As far as the front four swimmers went, there wasn’t too much overtaking action between the two splits. But Beecroft did find herself in the top three at the halfway mark, hanging on just – by 0.03 seconds from the Netherlands’ Florianne Bultje.
Swimming to the finish line, the US’ Christie Raleigh-Crossley came home comfortably to claim gold, with Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly a close second.
It was a duel between Beecroft and Bultje for third, with the former holding on in the back half of the swim. As they reached the line, Beecroft realise she had reached her goal, claiming bronze by two-and-a-half tenths of a second.
Speaking to the Express ahead of the Paralympic Games, Beecroft admitted that she was “in good contention of a podium finish”, realising her chance to “hopefully grab an individual medal”.
Reaching her dream, Beecroft not only leaves Paris with her first individual medal, but also a gold, capping off a successful Games.
