MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM – Team USA brought home three medals Monday to open the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships at the Manchester Aquatics Centre in the United Kingdom.
Led by a veteran in two-time Paralympic medalist Julia Gaffney (Mayflower, Arkansas), who took silver, and two world championships rookies in Olivia Chambers (Little Rock, Arkansas) and Noah Jaffe (Carlsbad, California), who each earned bronze, the Americans kicked off the meet on a high note.
In the first race of her fourth world championships, Gaffney powered to a silver medal in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM7, adding the 13th world championships medal of her career to her resumé.
After leading at the 100-meter mark following the butterfly and backstroke legs of the race, the two-time Paralympic medalist fell to fourth at the 150-meter mark. She was able to use the freestyle leg of the race to rebound back to the silver medal position in the final meters.
“I knew going into the race that the last 50-meter freestyle was going to matter the most,” she said. “At that point, I was like ‘okay, I’ve got to go,’ and really put my head down and was able to finish strong.”
For Gaffney, who will also compete in the 50-meter butterfly, 100-meter backstroke, and 100-meter freestyle, the goal is to focus on recovery before her other three races.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Gaffney said. “This year has been really hard mentally and physically for me, so I was just really happy to be able to be here. I’m really excited to be able to get onto the podium for Team USA, and I’m feeling really grateful.”
Finishing just behind Gaffney and just off the podium in the 200-meter individual medley was American teammate Ahalya Lettenberger (Glen Ellyn, Illinois), who missed her first podium in Manchester by just .19 seconds and took fourth. The Paralympic silver medalist will race the 400-meter freestyle tomorrow, the event in which she is a two-time world championships medalist.
Jaffe impressed in his first career world championships race, taking bronze in the men’s 400-meter freestyle S8. The 20-year-old rising junior at the University of California, Berkeley, swam a personal-best 4:35.04 en route to the bronze.
“I went in today excited to race,” he said. “I was really nervous too, but just was able to follow my race plan. I didn’t know where I was at the end, so it was really exciting to get a medal. The 400 isn’t really my distance, so I was focusing on getting close to my personal best time, which I did. I haven’t been that fast in a long time.”
Jaffe, who is on his second international trip as a member of Team USA after competing in last summer’s Duel in the Pool in Australia, still has his signature 100-meter freestyle, as well as the 50-meter freestyle, on deck in Manchester.
In the same race, teammate and Paralympian Matthew Torres (Ansonia, Connecticut) finished in eighth. Torres was the silver medalist in the event at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira, Portugal, and will look to rebound in the men’s 100-meter freestyle S8 later in the week.
Chambers, meanwhile, also made her world championships debut for Team USA and earned the first worlds medal of her career, bronze in the women’s 100-meter butterfly S13 competition. In a tight race all the way through, Chambers battled with Ireland’s Roisin Ni Riain for the silver but was edged in the final meters and earned the bronze in 1:06.18, less than .2 seconds off Ni Riain’s pace.
“I never really thought I’d be here,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier with how it went. This means a whole lot to me. I’ve dreamt of this since I started swimming, and I’m excited for what’s to come.”
The University of Northern Iowa swimmer is brand new to competing in Para sport, having broken onto the scene at the 2022 U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships last December, where she was named Swimmer of the Meet and brought home two national titles.
She made her international debut for Team USA at the 2022 Para Swimming World Series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in April and earned a spot on the worlds team. Manchester marks her first overseas competition.
“I’ve only been in Para for a little over a year,” she said. “It’s been so amazing, and I couldn’t ask for a better staff, coaches, or teammates.”
The 20-year-old has a full slate of races this week, with five more individual events on her schedule. In addition to butterfly, she also competes in breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley.
Five-time Paralympic medalist Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs, Colorado) opened her 2023 world championships bid with a fifth-place finish in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S6. Marks noted her consistent times between the preliminary heat and the event final, which she said she was happy with. The three-time world champion will return to the pool for three more events this week.
In the women’s 50-meter breaststroke SB3 competition, Leanne Smith (Salem, Massachusetts) swam to an eighth-place finish. The Paralympic silver medalist, who won seven world championship titles in Madeira last year, is still returning to form after an illness as she seeks her first Paralympic title next summer in Paris.
In her event-opening women’s 100-meter breaststroke SB9 competition, Paralympian Summer Schmit (Stillwater, Minnesota) placed fifth in her heat and finished ninth overall, missing the event final by one place. Schmit will return to the pool for three more individual events in Manchester, including the 400-meter freestyle, in which she is the defending world championships bronze medalist.
Two-time Paralympian McClain Hermes (Dacula, Georgia) swam a personal-best 35.98 in the women’s 50-meter freestyle S11 to finish seventh in her heat. She did not qualify for the final but still has the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyle races left on her Manchester slate.
Teenager Audrey Kim (Salt Lake City, Utah) made her Manchester debut and placed sixth in her heat of the women’s 50-meter freestyle S10, finishing 11th overall. A 2022 world championships relay silver medalist, Kim has two additional individual events in Manchester.
The competition resumes on August 1 at 9 a.m. local time with the second day of preliminary heats. All sessions will be streamed live on NBC’s Peacock, and live results can be found here.
