Popham Closes Para World Champs with Three Medals and Two PBs
Western Australian swimmer Ben Popham has closed a highly successful 2019 Para World Championships campaign with three medals in London.
Having won silver in the men’s 100m freestyle S8 final in
a personal best time on the opening night of competition, Popham backed up that
effort with a further two bronze medals to cap a stellar performance in the
green and gold.
The first of those was achieved in the final of the men’s 50m freestyle S8 before he took another third place finish, this time as a member of the Australian men’s squad in the 4x100m freestyle relay (34 points).
Popham was again in top form in the one lap freestyle final, setting another personal best to touch home in a time of 26.94.
Winning two individual medals at a World Championships on debut is a significant achievement, but the Arena Club swimmer was not finished there, teaming with Matt Levy, Timothy Disken and Rowan Crothers to collect a bronze medal in the sprint relay on the final night of competition.
Popham said the team chemistry had been evident ahead of their swim and he was delighted to earn a team success to go with his impressive individual results.
“Finishing off racing with the boys, you just can’t beat it – there was so much energy in marshalling and it was just a once in a lifetime experience. This meeting has already been really special for me and this is no exception,” he said.
The Dolphins team also saw veteran WA star Jeremy McClure add another representative cap to his career legacy.
The four-time Paralympian made the final of the men’s
100m backstroke S11, taking seventh place in 1:12.56, while he was also a
member of the mixed 4x100m freestyle (49 points) – teaming with Jenna Jones,
Katja Dedekind and Braedan Jason. The team placed sixth in 4:03.89.
Australia finished the 2019 Para World Championships with 27 medals overall. This included two gold, seven silver and 14 bronze.
Italy topped the international rankings with an incredible 20 gold medals, with Great Britain just behind after winning 19 gold. Australia fetched 17th place overall with 75 nations competing in total.
The Championships had originally been scheduled to be hosted in Malaysia. However, due to a diplomatic standoff where the Malaysian government refused to accept Israeli athletes into the country to compete, the International Paralympic Committee stripped Malaysia of its hosting rights, presented them to England instead.