Earlier today, Malta’s two para athletes at the Paralympics competed in both of their first heats. Malta will be represented by runner Thomas Borg and swimmer Vladyslava Kravchenko.
Today, Thomas competed in the T47 1oom heat whilst Vladyslava took part in the S5 butterfly 50m heat. T47 races are races for those who have below elbow or wrist amputation and S5 is the swimming category where the competitors have limited or can’t use their legs.
Thomas in the heat, broke his personal record of 12.16 seconds by ending the race in in 12.01 seconds. He came in 7th place, above Gabonese runner Moukangi. Unfortunately, The runner failed to qualify as he didn’t finish in a top 3 position or be one of the remaining fastest two runners. Borg will now be setting his eyes towards his 400m heat where he will be hoping for a good result.
Vladyslava in her S5 butterfly 50 m heat, ended up in 7th place with a time of 1:18.48 . She also failed to qualify as she didn’t finish her heat in a top 4 finish. Vladyslava finished the heat nearly 37 seconds after the winner Marta Fernandez Infante. This is Vladyslava’s second Paralympics after she competed in the 2016 Rio de Janiero Paralympics. Like Thomas, this isn’t Vladyslava’s only event as she will now compete in the S5 backstroke 50m event.
We wish the best of luck to Thomas and Vladyslava in their next events.
#MaltaDaily