Paralympic Swimming - Day 2
Louise Watkin in action at the start of the 100m Freestyle (S9)
Kelly College swimmer 16-year-old Louise Watkin wins a Silver medal at the Paralympic Games in the 100m Freestyle in the S9 category. Louise produced a life time best performance by nearly two seconds to finish in a time of 1.03.85 seconds to clinch the silver medal from Stephanie Dixon of Canada by a close four hundredths of a second. Louise’s coach Robin Brew said that; “Louise had a fantastic race, perfectly paced allowing her to finish strong in this demanding sprint event - we have been working hard to develop Louises back end speed and it has paid off, we are all very proud of her”. The Gold medal was won by disability swimming phenomenon Natalie Du Toit, who had remained in Beijing following her debut at the Olympic Games, becoming the first ever disability competitor to compete alongside able-bodied swimmers in the 5km Open Water event. Louise, who is a lower arm amputee will be swimming next in the SB9 100m Breaststroke on Day 3.
The Paralympic Final - 100m (S9) Freestyle Results - Day 2
Gold - Natalie Du Toit - 1.01.44
Silver - Louise Watkin - 1.03.85
Bronze - Stephanie Dixon - 1.03.89
September 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Well done Louise.
We watched the swimming and cheered and cheered. Must have been all the sun in Lanzarote that did it.
xx