MADRID, 5 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Paralympic swimming team reached 26 medals this Saturday in the World Cups that are being held in Manchester, with one last day to go, after the silver and bronze double of Toni Ponce and Luis Huerta in the 200 free S5 and the silvers of Nuria Marqués in the 100 backstroke S9 and the 4 x 100 mixed freestyle relay for swimmers with visual disabilities.
Spain, which has also achieved seven qualifying places for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, began the penultimate day with that double by Toni Ponce from Barcelona and Luis Huerta from Valladolid in the longest test in the S5 severe physical disability category, the 200 free meters.
Ponce was proclaimed runner-up in the world, one day after the gold in the 100 breaststroke, with a mark of 2’32″71, far from the first classified, the Italian Francesco Bocciardo. The excitement was in the fight for bronze, where Luis Huerta surpassed the Ukrainian Andrii Drapkin in the last meters (2’46″24).
In the 100-meter backstroke of the S9 class, there was close to another Spanish double as Nuria Marqués was second and Beatriz Lérida, fourth. The award-winning swimmer from Barcelona was proclaimed runner-up in the world this time only two tenths behind the American Christie Raleigh-Crossley and beat the third, the Brazilian Mariana Ribeiro, by one hundredth.
The last medal of the day for Spain came from the quartet of visually impaired swimmers in the 4 x 100 mixed freestyle: José Ramón Cantero, María Delgado, Emma Feliu and Quique Alhambra, who qualified in second position, with a time of 3’57″70, fighting for gold with Brazil.
On the other hand, Teresa Perales, winner of 27 Paralympic medals, competed in the 50 backstroke S2, in her third event in this World Championship in what is her new category (previously it was S5), later in her conversion to the new class after her problems, being fourth (1’16″00) with a new record for Spain.