Nicolas Guy-Turbide of Quebec City, Quebec won the gold medal in the men’s 100 metre backstroke at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira, Portugal on Wednesday. It was one of two medals Canadian athletes won at the Championships on Wednesday, as Danielle Dorris of Fredericton, New Brunswick won a silver medal in the women’s 100 metre backstroke.
In the men’s 100 metre backstroke in the S13 classification, Guy-Turbide, who suffers from albinism, posted a winning time of 1:00.17. Thomas van Wanrooij won the silver medal with a time of 1:00.55. Oleksii Virchenko of Ukraine won the bronze medal with a time of 1:00.95. Guy-Turbide won a medal by 1.6 seconds over Alex Portal of France, who finished in fourth place with a time of 1:01.77. According to CBC Sports, it was a strong second half of the race for Guy-Turbide, as he was battling a lower back injury over the last three years.
In the women’s 100 metre backstroke, Dorris had a second place time of 1:23.00. Julia Gaffney of the United States won the gold medal with a time of 1:21.03. Dorris, who was born with underdeveloped arms, is only 19 years of age and is from Fredericton, New Brunswick. Team Canada has 10 medals at the World Para Swimming Championships so far–four gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals.