China will once again aim to be dominant in the pool when the competition gets underway at the La Defense Arena on 29th August, with 141 medal events to be contested across ten days of competition.
China topped the para swimming medal table in Tokyo with an incredible 16 medals, 19 of which were gold. At the 2023 World Championships in Manchester, they only managed third place though so will be hoping that all their swimmers perform to capture top spot again. Hopes will be high for Jiang Yuyan, who bagged a staggering seven gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games to add to her three gold medals at the World Championships. Paris will be her second Paralympic Games, she took gold in the 50m freestyle and 400m butterfly S6 in Tokyo.
Competing against her in the S6 category will be Hong King, China’s youngest ever Paralympian, Ng Cheuk-Yan who will be just 14 years old at the Games. In Hangzhou Ng won Hong, Kong, China’s first medal when she picked up bronze in the 100m backstroke S6.
Singapore favourite Yip Pin Xiu will be looking to add to her Paralympic medal haul in what will be her fifth games. She has five Paralympic gold medals won at Beijing, Rio and Tokyo, all in backstroke and was the first Paralympic gold medallist for Singapore.
In the men’s events, Japan’s Takayuki Suzuki will be looking to repeat his Tokyo performance when he became a national hero by winning the 100m freestyle S4, his country’s first gold Paralympic medal since 2012 and the first of their home games. Paris will be his sixth Paralympic Games, having first competed in Athens 2004 and he will be looking to add to his ten Paralympic medals.
China’s Zheng Tao and Dong Lu both won four gold medals in Tokyo which helped put their country on top of the Swimming medal table. Three years’ later, who will match them?
