Ashley shifts focus to medley

Ashley van Rijswijk will compete in the 200m individual medley Tuesday.

Ashley van Rijswijk turns 21 today (Tuesday), but the birthday cake will have to wait until after this morning’s heat for the 200m individual medley.

Ashley races at 9.41am Tokyo time, which will be 10.41am Sydney time.

On Sunday morning, the Tumut swimmer had a fantastic finish to her first heat in the 100m breaststroke SB14, finishing first in her heat with a time of 1:18.43. In second place was Brazilian Debora Borges Carneiro with 1:18.55 and in third was Great Britain’s Louise Fiddes with 1:18.64. 

“She won her heat, which was really good,” said dad, Craig van Rijswijk.

Going into the final, van Rijswijk was seeded sixth, but did one better.

“She finished fifth overall, which was really good and there was 0.29 of a second between the bronze medal and sixth place,” said Mr van Rijswijk.

“It was all very close, but it was really good that she did so well and finished as the fastest Australian, so she did well.”

The final result was slightly outside van Rijskwijk’s Personal Best, but ‘a good race’, with the finalists ‘all right on top of each other’.

The women’s 100m breaststroke SB 14 final was held Sunday evening, with a nail-biting 0.29 seconds separating third and sixth place. The final touch saw van Rijswijk finish fifth, beating her heat time with 1:17.84. Fellow Aussie Leonhardt followed in sixth (1:17.90).

“She was pretty happy with it,” said Mr van Rijskwijk, after speaking with his daughter on her ‘birthday eve’ on Monday.

“She thought she did well … her goal was the be the fastest Australian, but she was really happy with how close everything was.”

In first place, Spaniard Michelle Alonso Morales set a new world record in 1:12.02 – which was also a personal record. 

Great Britain took silver with Fiddes finishing in 1:15.93 and Brazil took bronze with Beatriz Borges Carneiro finishing in 1:17.61. 

Viewers could be forgiven for thinking they were seeing double in the finishing times, with another Brazilian Borges Carneiro rounding out the top four – twin sisters Beatriz and Debora finished third and fourth respectively, with just 0.02 seconds between them.

The two Aussies filled the top six. 

Now, van Rijswijk looks ahead to the 200m individual medley, where she is seeded 11th in the world.

“She needs to swim a really good time,” said Mr van Rijswijk.

“Her goal is to try and make the final, but she’ll have to swim really well.

“She’s in the right frame of mind for it.”

After the individual medley, van Rijswijk will have several days to enjoy the atmosphere without the pressure of a race ahead. The swimming program continues through Friday, September 3, with the team flying home in the days following.

The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics (delayed to 2021 due to Covid-19) has placed a particular focus on female athletes, with a total of 1756 slots for women, the most ever and a 17 per cent increase on the number of female athletes in London 2012. Of the 146 swimming events, 76 are male, 67 female, and three are mixed relay events.

Previous articleDebate swirls: individual choice versus public health
Next articleStrong take-up of vaccine