Nicholas Bennett of Parksville continued leaving a gold-plated calling card for the Paris Paralympics by claiming his second win at the world Para swimming championships in Manchester, England.
The Islander took the gold medal in the men’s 200-metre individual medley SM14 in two minutes, 07.98 seconds Friday in Manchester to add to his week’s haul of two golds and a silver.
Each top-two finish at the world championships earns that nation a berth in that event in the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Bennett appears to be personally stocking the Canadian Paralympics swim team all by himself.
“My goal was to leave it all in the pool,” Bennett said in a statement, following his gold medal Friday in the 200 IM.
The 19-year-old Islander demolished his own Canadian record of 2:09.40 as he continued tracking the world record of 2:07.50: “I tried to get as close as possible to the world record. Now we’re setting up the road to Paris.”
Bennett shunted Rhys Darby of Great Britain to the silver medal position in 2:10.95 and Dmytro Vanzenko of Ukraine to the bronze in 2:12.02:
“The breaststroke is always the key stroke for me,” Bennett said. “My coach always reinforces to keep it nice and strong in the first 50 and start to progress from there. That’s where everything culminates.”
Bennett began the meet Monday with gold in the S14 200-metre freestyle, his first career world championship. He followed that up Wednesday with silver in the SB14 100-metre breaststroke in a Canadian and Americas record time of 1:04.41 and was closing in hard on champion Naohide Yamaguchi of Japan (1:03.71).
“I’m closing the gap on him little by little on every swim so we’ll see what will happen for Paris next year,” Bennett said.
Bennett came into these worlds after giving every hint last year of what was to come by capturing two silver medals at the 2022 world championships in Madeira, Portugal, and gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
“At these worlds now I’ve updated two silvers to two gold. This is probably the best I’ve ever been,” said Bennett, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Bennett started out in competitive swimming with the Ravensong Aquatic Club in Qualicum Beach under coach Mike Thompson.
“So many people have supported me back home and that means the world to me,” Bennett told the sa国际传媒.
He is now coached by sister Haley Bennett, a former swimmer.
“It’s great to have someone you truly care about coach you, and who in turn, truly cares about you,” Nicholas Bennett told the sa国际传媒.
Danielle Dorris of Moncton, N.B., also won her second gold medal of the world meet Friday to highlight sa国际传媒’s five-medal haul on the day. sa国际传媒’s total stands at 15 medals, including eight golds, three silvers and four bronze for sixth place in the medals table. The 2023 world championships conclude Sunday in Manchester. sa国际传媒 won 18 medals at the 2022 worlds in Madeira.
sa国际传媒’s performance in Manchester follows the six medals, including two golds by teen sensation Summer McIntosh, won at the recently-concluded world aquatics championships held in Fukuoka, Japan.
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