Pascoe triumphs and wants more
GOLD COAST: Exhausted Kiwi para swimmer Sophie Pascoe emphasised her dominance in the pool with gold in the women’s S10 200m individual medley at the Commonwealth Games, but she wants to go faster.
The 25yearold led from the start and stormed home in a time of 2min 27.72sec on the Gold Coast on Saturday night.
It was well short of her world record of 2min 24.90sec, set at the Rio Olympics, but she still put in so much effort she collapsed after the race. She soon recovered.
‘‘It was just a tough race. I gave it everything and obviously, the body wasn’t responding afterwards.
‘‘That’s bound to happen if you are giving everything and your body is full of lactic acid,’’ Pascoe said.
She was a little disappointed with her time, and was already thinking of the 2020 Olympics.
‘‘This is a great meet, obviously two years out from Tokyo . . . I know I’ve got a lot of work to do to achieve what I need to achieve in Tokyo. That’s the beauty of sport. I may not have achieved exactly what I wanted tonight,’’ Pascoe said.
‘‘I got the gold, yes, but we’ve got a lot to work on.’’
Today, Pascoe has another chance to add to her impressive swag of medals when she competes in the S9 100m breaststroke.
Earlier in the pool, compatriot Lewis Clareburt could not repeat his surprise bronze in the 400m men’s individual medley in the 200m butterfly.
The 18yearold came seventh in Saturday’s final, swimming a little slower than his heat, in which he bettered his previous best by nearly 2sec.
He could not match the start of South Africa’s Chad le Clos, who won in a Games record 1min 54sec flat.
‘‘I sort of got smoked off the start a bit,’’ Clareburt said.
‘‘Those big boys just had a few on me. They are really powerful in the water.’’
Daniel Hunter qualified for the 100m men’s freestyle with the eighthfastest time and will swim in the final. — NZN