Aurélie Rivard can’t be stopped.
The Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., native won gold in the women’s S10 100-metre freestyle at the Para swimming world championships on Friday in Madeira, Portugal.
Rivard touched in a championship-record time of 59.43 seconds and was the only competitor to crack the one-minute mark.
But hasn’t all been easy for the superstar swimming at worlds though. She was forced to pull out of the 400m freestyle just 48 hours earlier.
“I really pushed through to be able to be here. I really used all my tools and I’m really happy that I did and that it worked out in the end,” Rivard said poolside.
WATCH | Rivard captures gold medal:
Aurelie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC., claimed gold in the 100 metre freestyle S10 final at the world para swimming championships in Madeira, Portugal.
It’s the second gold medal of the meet for the Rivard, who also took top spot in the 50m freestyle. The 26-year-old won five medals, including two gold, at last summer’s Tokyo Paralympics to bring her career total to 10.
She’ll headline Canada’s swim team at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England from July 28-Aug. 8.
“My main goal was to finish a race, and not put too much pressure on the time or the results. I was really just focusing on each stroke and trying to stay smooth and really just enjoy the process a lot more than earlier in the week and I’m happy with the way that it turned out,” Rivard said.
Hungary’s Bianka Pap took a distant silver medal with a time of 1:01.19 while the Netherlands’ Lisa Kruger rounded out the podium in 1:01.25.
Canadians now have 14 medals in Portugal — six gold, four silver and four bronze.
Bérubé’s final swim
Earlier, 27-year-old Camille Bérubé swam the final world championship race of her career, placing fifth in the women’s SB6 100m breaststroke.
The letter/number modifiers in the event name indicate classification.
Swimmers are organized into different categories depending on the severity of their disability.
Classification can also be broken down by discipline: S indicates freestyle, butterfly and backstroke; SB is breaststroke; and SM represents individual medley.
Live action on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem from the Penteada Olympic Pools Complex continues Saturday at 12:05 p.m. ET.
More than 600 athletes from over 70 nations are competing, with 31 swimmers representing Canada.
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