U.S. Paralympics announced the athletes who will compete in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championship in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Aug. 15-21.
The Can-Am National Championships held in San Antonio, March 25-27, served as the World Championship qualification meet. In San Antonio, U.S. athletes broke 19 World, Pan-American and American records.
Twenty-five of the athletes that will compete at the World Championships, also represented the US at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, according to a press release.
Helping to lead the women’s team will be 14-time Paralympic gold medalist Erin Popovich, as well as veteran standout Jessica Long and rising star Mallory Weggemann. At the previous World Championships in 2006, Long won an astonishing nine gold medals in nine events. Weggemann made her international swimming debut at the IPC Short Course Swimming World Championships last December, where she collected five gold medals and three world records.
On the men’s side, more than half of the 11 athletes that will be swimming in Eindhoven claimed Paralympic medals in Beijing. The athletes include Justin Zook, Lantz Lamback, Jarrett Perry, Rudy Garcia-Tolson, Roy Perkins and Cody Bureau.
