Silver medallist Yip Pin Xiu moved to tears by home support at World Para Swimming C’ships

SINGAPORE – Swim queen Yip Pin Xiu is not one to cry after losing races, but tears were shed on Sept 23, when she finished second in the women’s 100m backstroke S2 final at the Toyota World Para Swimming Championships.

Speaking to the media at the OCBC Aquatic Centre after receiving her medal, the 33-year-old said: “I think the disappointment is not that I didn’t get the gold, but rather the timing…

“I really wanted to carry that through from the morning session. I know I can do better and that these times are not my best. So there’s a bit of, ‘Ah sian, wasted’.”

Fighting back tears, Yip’s voice trembled as she added: “Usually I don’t cry… But I came out and people were cheering like that.

“What really moves me is that it feels like there is the weight of the nation initially. But then, even with a silver, everybody has just been so supportive and so loving.”

And the support from the crowd was loud in the final, as fans roared when her name was announced and belted out cheers of “Go, Pin Xiu, go!”

With the home fans behind her, Yip had looked poised for gold after taking the lead at the turn, but the Singaporean was eventually beaten by Russia’s Diana Koltsova – who competes as a neutral athlete – who touched the wall first in 2min 19.60sec.

Yip (2:23.73) claimed silver, while Italy’s Angela Procida was third in 2:32.32.

Earlier in the day, Yip, who has seven golds at the world championships, qualified first overall in the heats, clocking 2:20.37 ahead of Italians Arjola Trimi (2:27.72) and Procida (2:31.11).

The veteran swimmer is expected to go up against 17-year-old Koltsova again in the 50m backstroke S2 on Sept 26, as the Singaporean attempts to retain her gold from the last edition in 2023.

Looking ahead, Yip, who also has seven golds at the Paralympic Games, is not worried about the result, saying: “Every race is really something to grow and learn from. This is the year after Paris (Paralympics), so there are three more years before Los Angeles...

“So there’s plenty of time to learn and grow and continue to find the best strategy for what we want to do in LA.”

On Koltsova, who is nearly half her age, Yip added: “She’s not a new athlete and she’s been in Paris, but it’s always nice to see people have good times.

“It’s really good that more and more athletes are coming up... there is always competition, but what is nice is also really seeing the sport grow. That’s what we all want, and more people to take part in it and more people to enjoy it.”

In the other finals on Sept 23, teammate Sophie Soon (1:35.40) finished seventh out of eight in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB11. Russia’s Daria Lukianenko (1:18.25) clinched gold ahead of Cypriot Karolina Pelendritou (1:21.72) and China’s Ma Jia (1:25.95).

Day 3 of competition saw more world records tumble as Russia’s Mariia Pavlova finished top in 1:24.51 in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB7 final to eclipse her own mark of 1:26.09 set at the Paris Paralympics.

In the men’s 150m individual medley SM4 final, Roman Zhdanov (Russia) also bettered his own world mark of 2:21.17 enroute to the gold medal.

Despite finishing second behind China’s He Shenggao (38.82sec) in the women’s 50m butterfly S5 final, the United States’ Katie Kubiak – who is in the S4 classification – bettered Spain’s Infante Fernandez’s record of 40.22 with her 39.34.

The men’s 200m individual medley SM6 final also saw China’s Yang Hong (2:36.73) shave almost a second off his own world record of 2:37.31 from the Paris Games.

In the morning’s heats, Singaporeans Han Liang Chou (1:23.47) was 15th out of 15 in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14, while Jazlene Tan (1:50.69) was last out of 16 in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB14.

On Sept 24, Toh Wei Soong will compete in the men’s 100m backstroke S7 heats, while a team comprising Darren Chan, Danielle Moi, Han and Tan will feature in the mixed 4x100m freestyle S14 final.