The first day of swimming and para swimming competitions was held on Saturday 23 July at the Kantrida Swimming Pool Complex in Rijeka. The qualifications were held in the morning, while the finals were in the afternoon. Today’s disciplines included 100 m freestyle, 50 m backstroke, 100 m breaststroke, 200 m medley in the men’s and women’s tournament, as well as in the para tournament. The women’s 4 x 50 m freestyle relay was also held. There was a lot of support from the stands, the crowd, but other athletes as well, who cheered on the participants. Karlo Knežević from the University of Zagreb, winner of the gold medal in 100 m freestyle for para swimmers, is very happy with the race, but he still has two more to go.
‘I am very happy, but I have to train harder in the gym, so that the results could be even better,’ said Karlo. Ferdinand Major, the coach of the para swimmers from Zagreb, said that his swimmers had done really well, but that, had the competition been bigger, it would have pushed them to do even better.
‘This is the first Universities Games that the para swimmers are taking part in, so there are not many of them, but I’m hoping for a bigger competition and new challenges at the next Games.’
Carmen Herrero, bronze medal winner in the 100 m freestyle, said that she hadn’t expected it and that she was surprised and happy. She added that she was also swimming in another race, the 50 m butterfly, and that she wanted to win that one. Doruk Tekin, silver medalist in the 50 m backstroke from Yeditepe University, said that he had been preparing for the Olympic Games for the last year, but that he had been 8 hundredths of a second too slow to qualify.
‘I knew I was ready, but this competition was being held right after my two week holiday, so I trained four days before. I wasn’t expecting this, I am very happy,’ said Doruk.
The swimmers have another two days to go, and the atmosphere at the pool will be cheerful, exciting and tense, just like today.
