One of the first events to get underway at the 2019 Virtus (Inas) Global Games was the sport of Swimming. Traditionally one of the biggest at the Games, swimming had also attracted the world’s best swimmers, many fresh from the World Para Swimming Championships which were held in London in September 2019. With the inclusion of the Virtus II-2 and II-3 groups swimming was by far the largest competition at the Games.
The high class fields and world class facility ensured there was plenty of action with a total of 25 World records broken or established. Eighteen (18) of the records were in the II-1 group with four swimmers Viacheslev Emeliantsev (RUS), Liam Schluter (AUS), Mitchell Kilduff (AUS) and Jack Ireland (AUS) each claiming 3 records. Seven (7) new records were established in the II-2 group.
Russia’s Valeria Shabalina dominated the swimming competition winning 11 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze medal along with her 1500m freestyle world record and was acknowledged at the closing ceremony as the Athlete of the Games.
Australia’s Phoebe Mitchell wasn’t far behind with 10 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal and a world record in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay.
It was an exciting program for the spectators with a minimum of 3 World records each day of competition.
Australia, Russia and Spain dominated the swimming and finished on top of the swimming medal tally, well clear of other countries. Shabalina and Mitchell on their own would have finished in the top 10 countries on the overall Games Medal Table with Shabalina in 6th place and Mitchell 9th.
The Local Organising Committee established clear and ambitious goals to celebrate inclusive sporting excellence, by changing attitudes, challenging perceptions and strengthening communities locally and globally. The performances of the swimmers, sports officials, event presentation and live streaming ensured the they were well on their way to reaching their goals.
II-1 World Records
1500m Freestyle Women Valeria Shabalina (Rus)
50m Butterfly Women Yui Lam Chan (HK)
200m Butterfly Women Yui Lam Chan (HK)
4 x 50m Freestyle Women Australia (McTernan, Leonhardt, Fielden, Cook)
4 x 100m Freestyle Women Brazil (Carneiro, Ariodonte, Carneiro, Soares)
4 x 200m Freestyle Women Australia (McTernan, Leonhardt, Cook, Lucy)
4 x 100m Freestyle Women Brazil (Soares Carneiro, Carneiro, Ariodonte)
50m Freestyle Men Viacheslev Emeliantsev (RUS)
1500m Freestyle Men Liam Schluter (AUS)
50m Backstroke Men Viacheslev Emeliantsev (RUS)
200m Breaststroke Men Artem Pavlenko (RUS)
50m Butterfly Men Viacheslev Emeliantsev (RUS)
400m Indiv Medley Men Long Tin Chan (HK)
4 x 50m Freestyle Men Australia (Ireland, Dyer, Kilduff, Stewart)
4 x 100m Freestyle Men Australia (Ireland, Alford, Kilduff, Schluter)
4 x 200m Freestyle Men Australia (Ireland, Kilduff, Alford, Schluter)
4 x 50m Medley Men Hong Kong (Hui, Chan, Tang, Wong)
4 x 100m Medley Men Korea (Chi, Kim, Cho, Kim)
II-2 World Records
100m freestyle Women Camino Martinez De La Riva (ESP)
4 x 200m freestyle Women Australia (Anderton, Crawford, Schlenner, Mitchell)
50m butterfly Men Eloy Molina Rodriquez (ESP)
200m butterfly Men Colin Marks (AUS)
4 x200m freestyle Men Australia (Marks, Dixon, Cox, Booysen)
4x50m medley Men Spain (Serrano Correoso, Hernandex Ortiz, Molina Rodriiguez, Gracia Nunez)
4 x 100m freestyle Mixed Spain (Gracia Nunez, Martinez De La Riva, Agudo Ortega-Villaiz, Hernandez Ortiz)