Team Singapore swimmers are off to a great start at the Citi Para Swimming World Series Singapore 2024, with a gold medal from Toh Wei Soong in the Men’s 50m Butterfly Multi-Class event, up from second place in the same event last year. He also won a Bronze medal in the Men’s 100m Freestyle Multi-Class event. Yip Pin Xiu won the Bronze medal in the Women’s 100m Freestyle Multi-Class event.
Yip said: “I’m happy with the timing. I did a faster time in the finals than I did in the heats, even though it’s not as fast as what I did in Madeira. It’s a good start for the cycle and we are looking forward to improving in the next 15 weeks before the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.”
After the 100m Freestyle, Toh swam the 50m Butterfly, and finished with a time of 31.18s, earning 919 World Para Swimming points, beating Japan’s Kaede Hinata and Kazakhstan’s Siyazbek Daliyev who scored 884 and 843 points respectively.
Loud cheers echoed through the OCBC Aquatic Centre as Toh raced towards the finish line for his 50m Butterfly event and secured Singapore’s first gold medal in this home edition.
“Before this meet, I went to Japan for two and a half weeks, and trained at one of the national training centres at Nagano. It’s a high altitude facility, with a top notch pool. It was a great way to prepare myself for this meet to gain that confidence going into the final months for Paris,” said Toh.
He added: “I feel really good about the swims today, with two back-to-back events. I’m excited for tomorrow.”
The World Para Swimming Series uses the Multi-Class Point System (MCPS) where each swimmer’s result is compared to the world record for their specific sport class and awarded points. The closer the performance is to the relevant record, the higher the points.
The 2024 World Series takes place in 9 countries and Singapore is the only Asian stop, and it’s organised by the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC). This is the third time Singapore has hosted the event.
The action in the pool will continue on 18 to 19 May, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are on sale on SISTIC: https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/citipara0524.
Day 1 Notable Results at Citi Para Swimming World Series Singapore 2024 (17 May 2024)
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