Seventh heaven for Yip Pin Xiu as she claims another title at World Para Swim C’ships

SINGAPORE – Three days after her triumph in the women’s 100m backstroke S2, Yip Pin Xiu bagged her second gold medal at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships on Saturday.

The 31-year-old won the women’s 50m backstroke S2 title for the third straight edition, taking her total tally of world titles to seven.

She clocked 1min 4.10sec to finish ahead of Italy’s Angela Procida (1:10.86) and Mexico’s Fabiola Ramirez Martinez (1:12.08) at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

On Wednesday, the five-gold Paralympic champion had also

won the women’s 100m backstroke S2 for the third consecutive time.

Her time of 2:17.78 had secured a second berth at the 2024 Paralympics for Singapore, adding to the archery slot earned by Nur Syahidah Alim at the World Para Archery Championships in July.

An elated Yip said: “I’ve been swimming competitively for 19 years now, to be able to still win this, still be representing Singapore, to be one of the top few in the field, it means so much.”

When asked what was her recipe for continued dominance, Yip, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at age two, said: “I think it really is about consistency and not being complacent about where we are right now.

“It is about always wanting to be better and chasing the milliseconds, chasing any marginal gain that we can get.”

Adding that sports is very relatable to life, she said: “You can’t just keep doing the same thing and expect improvement.”

Her times in both events might be slightly slower than her 2022 gold-winning efforts (50m back – 1:03.94, 100m back – 2:15.16) in Portugal, but it was still mission accomplished in Manchester, as far as coach Mick Massey is concerned.

Massey, who reunited with Yip in November after having coached her to a double gold at the 2016 Paralympics, said they had met their objective of qualifying for Paris 2024.

“That aside, we made some subtle changes in the final weeks before the competition to land an optimal preparation plan for 2024,” added the former British Paralympic head coach.

“Our forward game plan will be to continue developing the aerobic base and fine-tuning our race model to guide our outing to Paris next year.”

With Paris 2024 just over a year away, Yip, who holds the world records for both S2 events (50m – 59.38sec; 100m – 2:07.09), feels she still has much to work on.

She added: “Mainly for me, it’s the aerobic endurance, feeling connected in the water like this, you need to get a good feel of the water and activate the right parts.”

When asked if Paris 2024 will be her last Games, Yip, who has racked up five gold medals and a silver in four Paralympics, said: “I don’t know if 2024 will be my swansong... But I am really going to take each one like it might be the very last time I swim at the Paralympics and do my best for it.”