| World Record for Canada's Stephanie Dixon at Para-Swimming World Championships |
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RIO DE JANEIRO (December 2, 2009) Stephanie Dixon of Victoria broke her world short course record and won the gold medal in the women's 400-metre freestyle on Wednesday at the Para swimming world championships for swimmers with a disability. Dixon clocked 4:38.84 seconds to eclipse her previous world mark in the S9 disability category of 4:47.28 set in Vancouver in 2004. It was Canada's second gold medal and eighth overall (two gold, two silver and four bronze). "It was a really exciting to be involved in a tight race like that," said Dixon, 25, who won four medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. "The sport has been growing for years and it's finally at a point where the 400 freestyle is decided by hundredths of a second. I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself to perform well and today I just worried about the process and not the result. In the end, that's the way to get the best outcome." In her first race on Sunday, Dixon was surprisingly disqualified in the 200 individual medley preliminaries. "That was a motivating factor," said Dixon. "It was disappointing not to make the 200 IM final, even though it is not my best event. It wasn't the way I wanted to start this competition but now I'm on track to having a great ending." Jenna Skieneh of Windsor, Ontario, missed a berth in the final by one spot placing ninth in prelims. Other Canadian women's results on Wednesday: Jessica Hodgins of Windsor, Ontario, Brianna Jennet-McNeill of Ottawa and Jessica Roberge of Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, were fourth, fifth and sixth in the S10 400 freestyle; Sarah Mehain of Vernon, B.C., fifth in the S8 100 breaststroke; Brianna Nelson of Victoria and Mehain fifth and sixth in the S7 50 freestyle; Cynthia Berringer of Mississauga, Ontario, seventh in the S6 50 freestyle; and Maxime-Valérie Olivier of Montreal eighth in the S4 50 backstroke. Canadian men's results: Brian Hill of Duncan, B.C., and Devin Gotell of Antigonish, N.S., were fourth and 10th respectively in the S13 50 freestyle; Marc-Olivier Marchand of Montreal and Jean-Michel Lavallière of Quebec City fifth and seventh in the S7 50 freestyle; Alex Parent of Hamilton eighth in the S9 400 freestyle and Lavallière and Kyle McMahon of Prince George, B.C., 10th and 13th in the S7 100 IM. ‘'I was shooting for the Canadian record and I just missed it,'' said Marchand, 18, in his worlds debut. ‘'But I was still pleased to get a personal best. I followed my strategy in the final which I didn't do in the preliminaries so I learned a lesson there. The key was going the first 15 metres without taking a breath.'' Competition continues through to Saturday. |
