He had been advised not to participate in the 100 meters freestyle after withdrawing from another event on Tuesday. Aurélie Rivard (S10) wanted to participate in order to defend her world title, which she did on Friday by winning her second gold at the World Championships in swimming in Portugal.
After being crowned champion of the 50m freestyle S10 last Saturday, Quebecers were unable to complete the 400m freestyle final three days later. The athlete from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu was at the front halfway and suddenly stopped. She finally turned around and got out of the pool, immediately surrounded by lifeguards who gave her a blanket and an oxygen mask.
“I wasn’t sure I was ready. I was advised not to, but I thought it was important to break it,” Revard said in the mixed zone, speaking of a day filled with emotions.
without pressure
Quebec was the fastest in the morning qualifier with a time of 1 minute 0.26 seconds. I started in lane 4 of the final, which was a very good start. Halfway through, she beat the Dutch Lisa Krueger by just 14 hundredths of a second.
Rivard then managed to outsmart her rivals to set a world championship record with a time of 59.43 seconds, breathless, a light smile, but without an explosion of joy.
“Honestly, there were a lot of things going through my mind before starting the race. The gold medalist said the main objective was simply to finish it. […] The past three days have been difficult. I tried to take as much pressure off myself as possible about the results and focus on what I should be doing. I think it worked well, so I’m happy! “
Hungarian Bianka Pap was second (+1.76sec), while Krueger finished the podium 6 milliseconds behind Pap.
It is the Canadian team’s 14th medal since the start of these world championships, equating to the 2019 harvest. It remains to be seen if Revard will swim in the S10 100m at noon on Saturday. A 4×100 mixed freestyle relay will also be offered at the conclusion of these worlds.
final top 5
Camille Birobi swam the last of her world championship distances on Friday, in the SB6 100m breaststroke final. The Gatineau resident has already announced that she will be retiring at the end of the season. Third in her qualifying round, she finished fifth in the final with a time of 1 minute 44.10 seconds.
A few days ago, Birubi won the first medal of his career at the World Championships, that bronze medal in the 200m 4 medley.
