Saturday, November 18th, 2023.- During the morning session at the Centro Acuático at the Parque Estadio Nacional, six Pan American records were broken, with Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia shining with their times in various Para Swimming categories.

In the 100 meters, the Brazilians dominated. Both in backstroke and breaststroke, Team Brazil set new records. In SB4 and S12, respectively, Alessandra Oliveira and Patricia Pereira clocked times almost 4 seconds faster than the previous records. Douglas Rocha also set a new Pan American record in the 50 meters breaststroke in the S12 category.

It's worth noting that in the SB4 category, swimmers with moderately limited coordination of the entire body or a high level of limitation in the torso and legs participate. The S12 category includes swimmers with a visual impairment and restricted field of vision.

Colombia also made its mark by breaking records in the 200-meter individual medley SM7 for both female and male. Sara Vargas secured the gold with a time of 3:06:42, and Carlos Serrano, in the same event, achieved the feat of surpassing his own record set at Lima 2019, with a time of 2:31:19.

The SM7 category includes swimmers in individual medley events with limited movement of the arms, torso, and legs, ranging from low to moderate impairment levels.

Finally, Argentinian Analuz Pellitero set a new record in the 50 meters freestyle in the S11 category, with a time of 32.16. In this category, swimmers with almost total visual impairment compete.

Written by José Tomás Lambert; translated by Pía Barriga / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Marcelo Hernández / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport