Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

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DAY-1: Russian Shabalina breaks her own record World Record

By Mousumi Mazumdar

Valeriia Shabalina holds her Gold Medal in S14 100 meter Butterfly at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

Valeriia Shabalina holds her Gold Medal in S14 100 meter Butterfly at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Photo: OIS/Joel Marklund

On the first day of competition at the 2020 Paralympic Games, in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S14, Shabalina Valeriia (WR) broke her own WR of 1:03.68 and set a new one for 1:03.59sec. Talking to Virtus, Shabalina says “My hands and legs were shivering just before the event and I was very stressed because it was the most important event of my life, but my coach helped me stay calm. I am happy with my performance now.”

Silver medal winner with a timing of 1:05.48 sec, Paige Leonhardt from Australia said “personally I didn’t execute what I wanted to during the heats, so I really wanted to have a really good and strong race, and that’s what I did and came back with a silver medal. I also got to share the podium with Ruby and I am very proud of her.”

Ruby Storm (AUS) claimed the bronze with a timing of 1:06.50sec. “It was very unexpected, I came third in the heats and was really shocked about that and I came away with a Bronze medal” said the swimmer.

Men’s 100m Butterfly S14

A thrilling start was seen when three swimmers Liam Schluter from AUS in heat 1, Gabriel Bandeira (BRA) heat-2 and Reece Dunn (GBR) recorded Paralympic records in their respective heats but the Brazilian made it to the top of the podium.

Creating a new Paralympic record of 54.76sec, Bandeira grabbed the first S14 class Gold medal from Tokyo 2020.

Gabriel Bandeira holds Gold medal for 100 meter Butterfly at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Gabriel Bandeira (BRA) holds Gold medal for 100 meter Butterfly at Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Photo: OIS/Joel Marklund

Bandeira says “I feel so happy, I trained a lot for this day. In the morning I controlled through the race (heat) and in the finals I just gave it all. I was quite nervous as I wrote down on paper- ‘I will swim very fast’ which helped me a lot.”

World record holder-Reece Dunn had to face defeat and settle for Silver with the timing of 55.99sec while Australian swimmer Benjamin James Hance claimed the bronze with 56.90sec.

Although, Lawrence Sapp from USA could not make it to the podium, the athlete was very excited to make his Paralympic debut. He lead the race until 50m but finished fifth.

Meanwhile Dai Tokarin, the host nation’s champion, ranked second in the World and was expected to give a strong competition to the WR holder Reece Dunn, but was left heartbroken when he could not qualify for the 100m Butterfly Finals with the timing of 58.44sec.

Seefeld – Austria to host 2022 World Skiing Championships

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Virtus, the International Federation for sport for athletes with intellectual impairments, has announced that Austria will host the 2022 Virtus World Skiing Championship.

The event, hosted by Osterreichischer Behindertensportverband (Virtus member organization in Austria) takes place between 15th to 19th March 2022 at Seefeld, Austria. The event was previously scheduled to take place in 2021 but was postponed due to the ongoing pandemic.

The organizing committee comprises of key personnel from the LOC of 2019 International Ski Federation (FSI) Nordic World Championship in Seefeld along with experience of hosting FIS Nordic triple and wishes to set a new benchmark for this event.

Marc Truffaut, Virtus President said “I would like to congratulate Virtus Austria for winning the bid to host this event. It was unfortunate that we had to postpone this event from 2021 to 2022, however I am very positive that this time we will come back stronger. With the expertise of our LOC in organizing FIS events in 2019, this event will undoubtably will be one of the spectacular skiing event Virtus members have witnessed before.”

Former winner of the Virtus Sportswomen of the Year, Heidi Mackowitz will be skiing on home snow. Previously, at an unfortunate accident during training in 2013, Heidi broke her femur bone in five different places but after fighting against all odds and people’s perceptions, Heidi made a comeback on to the slopes in 2016 and won 2nd and 3rd place at the 2016 Virtus World Skiing Championship in Poland.

Virtus wishes all the athletes a very good luck.

2021 World Athletics Championships close

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The 2021 Virtus World Athletics Championships have closed with 3 new World Records set including France’s Beatrice Aoustin who broke her own WR throwing 50.51 in the Hammer.

Competing on home soil, Karolina Kucharczyk jumped a Virtus record of 2.54m in the Triple Jump, whilst also taking a new record in the 100m Hurdles, finishing in 14.37.

The event was the largest to be held by Virtus under the new Covid protocols. All participants were tested ahead of arrival in Poland, and again mid-way, before a final test ahead of departure. All covid tests were negative.

Virtus would like to thank hosts Sprawni-Razem for their efforts in the difficult circumstances that exist and all the nations and teams that supported the event. Jose Costa Perreira, Sport Director – Athletics, said ” With 10 nations and more than 100 athletes, this was a smaller event than we are used to but was a huge success given the barriers many nations face. Congratulations to our Polish hosts who delivered a fantastic event, live-streamed to the world”.

Full results can be found here.

Launching The Virtus Academy

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Virtus – the International Federation for sport for athletes with an intellectual impairment – will today formally launch the Virtus Academy, a global hub of research, training and education.

The occasion will be marked by an online presentation with delegates from across the Virtus membership, universities and academic institutions around the world and colleagues and partners from the International Sport Federations.

The aim of the Academy is to grow the scientific evidence base to inform decision making and strategy, to support coaches and volunteers through improved education and training, and to bring together resources and guidance into a single hub.

It will operate in 5 key pillars:

  • The Athlete Lounge – providing resources and support to athletes on issues such as healthy eating, mental wellbeing and more
  • The Coaches Area – providing high quality, sport-specific and other resources to optimize their coaching practice
  • The Resource Library – featuring the latest academic and published resources and research to support the development of sport
  • The Research Hub – undertaking leading research in the field of sport for athletes with an intellectual impairment
  • The Eligibility and Classification Zone – providing training and guidance to psychologists, and supporting International Federations to develop classification and train classifiers

Project Manager, Dr Debbie Van Biesen said “For the first time, the Academy brings together the existing knowledge and expertise in this area, but also we will grow the evidence base to ensure that everything we do is driven by science and the most current data available. Virtus’ mission is to drive the development of elite sport for athletes with an intellectual impairment and the Academy is a key part of our strategy to achieve that”.

Prof. Jan Burns MBE – Virtus’ Head of Eligibility and a leading advocate of the initiative – said “I’m delighted to see the Academy come to fruition today after so much hard work by so many people. Together with Virtus’ work to deliver high-level competition for the world’s best athletes and our many projects and activities around the world to develop opportunities for people with an intellectual disability, Down syndrome and autism to get involved and excel in sport, this new addition to our programme ensures Virtus is at the forefront of scientific and research, education and training”.

To coincide with the launch, the Academy website has gone live with resources and materials available for download, including the RAID database (a searchable database of existing guides and research) and more, and is expected to grow quickly as more resources, training events and guides are added.

In June, the Academy will be launching its first research study which aims to understand the funding available to sport for people with an intellectual impairment across the world. Produced in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University and funded by the European Union, the study aims to understand how different countries support both the participation in sport and elite athletes with an intellectual impairment, and the impact that the global pandemic has had. Van Biesen explained ‘we already know that funding to sport is being cut in many places as a result of the pandemic and sport for people with an intellectual impairment is one of the first places that these cuts take place. This research will help us ensure that people with an intellectual impairment are not unfairly targeted’.

The Virtus Academy launches on 31st May and can be visited at thevirtusacademy.com