Day 3 of the swimming portion at the 2013 DeafLympics was another successful day for the Americans, as University of Hawaii swimmer Peggy Liang brought home a silver medal in the women’s 50 fly.
She and Russian Deaflympics star Alena Alexeeva were nose-to-nose throughout this race, but it was Alexeeva who got her fingers on the wall first in 29.36, just two-tenths shy of the Deaf World Record set in 2009. Liang took 2nd in that race in 29.67, following on her 2011 gold at the World Deaf Swimming Championships in the same event.
Alexeeva won another race in the women’s 200 backstroke with a 2:26.77. That broke the Deaflympics Record of 2:27.43 set by American Laura Barber in 1981.
That was one of two finals for Liang on the day; she also placed 5th in the 100 free in 1:00.06, behind only 43-year old legend Gianna Lytvynenko of the Ukraine, who won in 59.00.
Russia won an American-less 50 freestyle final, thanks to a 24.27 from Vladislav Vasin.
The Eastern Europeans continued to dominate the meet with a 2:23.56 in the men’s 200 breaststroke from Andriy Zurgalidze; Russians Ilya Lukyanov and Martin Fomin were 2nd and 3rd.
Russia’s Vitaly Obotin won the men’s 200 IM in 2:08.64, while Matt Klotz, winner of the 100 backstroke on Sunday, ended up 4th in a lifetime best of 2:12.18. He did have the fastest backstroke split of the entire field, however.
And finally, the Russians won the men’s 400 free relay in 3:35.05, followed by Ukraine and China. The Americans were 4th in 3:42.87, with their best split coming on anchor from Klotz in 53.44.
The American men’s 400 free relay after finishing 4th at the DeafLympics.
The meet has a rest day on Tuesday, before returning for the three final days of competition beginning Wednesday.