Swimming at the Paralympics: Topf and Scholz win next medals – Braunschweig’s dream bursts

The triumph of the German swimmers continues: Josia Topf has already won his third medal at the Paralympics in Paris. After gold and silver, he followed up with bronze in the 50 m freestyle on Friday (September 6, 2024). Tanja Scholz can also celebrate another medal in the same distance. Despite his great ambitions, Malte Braunschweig comes away empty-handed.

Topf once again showed a top performance. The 21-year-old underlined once again that he is in top form in the 50 m freestyle in the S3 starting class. 45.61 seconds gave him third place in the end. The title goes to Umut Unlu from Turkey, silver to Denys Ostapchenko from Ukraine.

Topf secured gold in the 150 m individual medley and silver in the 50 m backstroke. On Saturday (September 7, 2024) he will have the opportunity to win his fourth medal in the 200 m freestyle. “We have worked extremely hard over the last three years,” said Topf after the race, pleased that the efforts are now paying off. “I got into it extremely well mentally, I was under no stress. Before Tokyo I still had a lot to do with my A-levels.” Three years ago, the then 18-year-old had not won a medal.

Scholz wins second medal

Tanja Scholz also celebrated another success at the Paralympics. The 40-year-old also swam to the silver medal in the 50 m freestyle (starting class S4) in 40.75 seconds. She came in third, but the Brazilian Lidia Viera da Cruz was disqualified for a false start. Gold went to the American Leanne Smith, who set a new world record for her starting class (S3) in 40.03 seconds. Bronze went to Rachael Watson from Australia.

Scholz had gone into the final with a cold. She could hardly believe that she had won a medal under these circumstances. “That was the final. We are here at the Paralympics. It is simply inspiring,” she said after the race. Scholz had already won gold in the 150 m individual medley. After her race, she left it open whether she would compete in the 50 m backstroke at the end of the competition on Saturday. The swimmer, who was both ailing and happy, wanted to wait and see how the night went.

Braunschweig’s medal room burst

Braunschweig finished the 100 m butterfly final after 1:01.29 minutes. This was a significant improvement on his preliminary round. However, he missed out on a medal, finishing sixth. It was the 24-year-old from Berlin’s second start in Paris; he had not reached the final in the 50 m freestyle.

After the attack on his favorite route, Braunschweig was dejected. “The medal was within reach. It was less than three tenths of a second. It’s sad,” he said in an interview with Sportschau. “The time is just crap. With my best time I would have been third. I just couldn’t manage it. I’m accordingly disappointed.”

Malte Braunschweig and his brother Ole were the first siblings to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics in the same year in Tokyo in 2021. Ole competed in Paris a few weeks ago, but missed an individual final.