Nicole Turner finished in a time of 3:10:76 in the final of the Women’s 200 Individual Medley SM6 in what was her season’s best performance to finish in 7th place overall. Turner took nearly 5 seconds off her time from the heats earlier today in a race that included a new World Record performance from the gold medallist, Maisie Summers Newton who swam an incredible time of 2:57:24.
Nicole Turner went into the final of the SM6 200m Individual Medley knowing that she had to improve greatly on her performance in the heat earlier this morning to be in with a chance of medalling. Competition in the pool was at a particularly high level with swimmers like world record holder Maisie Summers Newton along with Eleanor Simmons and Yelyzaveta Mereshenko amongst the 8 finalists. The season’s best performance represents a dramatic improvement and puts her in good stead going into the rest of the week.
The main event for Nicole will come on Saturday when she competes in her favoured 50m fly, the same event that she won the European silver medal in last year in Dublin but her next event will be the history making Women’s relay which takes place on Friday and will mark the first time that Ireland will ever race in a Para Swimming relay event.
‘My aim for the final was to go faster but I never thought I had that much in me to go that much faster. It was still a second outside my PB but I did that PB last year at home Europeans in a home pool and I had the home crowd whereas this year, London, it’s obviously a long season anyway but to actually get out and do a season’s best there, I am delighted with that swim.’
‘I just took away the nerves, took away what time I wanted and I just went out and enjoyed myself and I think that was the main part of the race where I actually got enjoyment out of it but then I got a good time on top of that.’
There are three Irish swimmers in the pool tomorrow as Jonathan McGrath makes his first and only appearance of the World Championships when he competes in the 400m Freestyle event. Ailbhe Kelly will also return to the pool in the 400m Freestyle and Patrick Flanagan bring his world championships to a close when he competes in the 100m Backstroke.
World Para Swimming Allianz Championships Day 3 Final (Result)
Nicole Turner 200m Individual Medley SM6, 3:10:76 (SB), 7th
Note- Barry McClements is on standby for the men’s 100M Butterfly at 7:30pm
World Para Swimming Allianz Championships Heats Day 3 (Results)
Nicole Turner, SM6 200m Individual Medley, 3:15:22, 5th place
Barry McClements, S9 100m Butterfly, 1:02:52, 6th place
Amy Marren, S9 100m Butterfly, Withdrew due to injury
World Para Swimming Allianz Championship Day 4 Schedule
Jonathan McGrath 400m Freestyle 11:54am Final 8:25pm
Ailbhe Kelly 400m Freestyle 12:09pm Final 20:33pm
Patrick Flanagan 100m Back Crawl 12:25pm Final 8:51pm
