Olivia Chambers shines in Para Swimming World Championship debut
8/6/2023 1:38:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Panther junior medals in all six events for the U.S. in Manchester with two silvers and four bronze.
MANCHESTER, England --- UNI swimmer Olivia Chambers captured the attention of the para swimming world this week as the Panther junior claimed six medals in six events in her debut at the Para Swimming World Championships in England.
Chambers, a visually impaired, S13 classified swimmer who has competed on the para swimming circuit since mid-2021, finished the week long competition with a pair of silver medals and four bronze medals at the Manchester Aquatics Center.
"It means a whole lot," said Chambers. "I definitely did not expect that coming into it. I knew I had a long lineup, so I was just taking it race by race and it really means a lot to medal in all my races."
The Little Rock, Arkansas native had strong home support on deck, not just in her American teammates, but in UNI assistant coach Ben Colin, who served on the 39-person U.S. coaching staff.
Throughout the meet, Chambers would face challenges from the para swimming's best, particularly from five-time Paralympic Games medalist Carlotta Gilli of Italy. Opening the meet with the S13 100-meter butterfly, Chambers clocked a career-best time of 1:06.18 in the direct final to take her first of four bronze medals.
Alongside her American teammate Colleen Young, Chambers took third place in the SB13 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:18.45, with Young taking second. Chambers concluded the first half of her World Championship meet on Wednesday in the S13 100-meter freestyle, swimming a 1:01.36 in the preliminary heat before recording a new career-best mark of 1:00.12 in the finals, narrowly beating out Ayano Tsujiuchi of Japan by 0.22 for bronze.
After an off day on Thursday, Chambers returned to action Friday morning in the S13 50-meter freestyle, recording a career-best 28.50 second swim and advancing to the finals tied with the fourth-fastest qualifying time. In another breakout swim, Chambers swam under 28 seconds for the first time with a 27.69 for her fourth bronze medal of the meet, pulling within a half second of tying an American record.
In Saturday's S13 400-meter freestyle, Chambers clocked the fastest time in the 11-swimmer field in 4:39.80 in the prelims and dropped another 2.77 seconds in the finals to take her first silver medal of the week, finishing behind Gilli. To close out the week, Chambers won her preliminary heat of the S13 200-meter individual medley in 2:31.92 before narrowly holding off Brazil's Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago by 0.61 seconds for second place with a mark of 2:28.23.
Chambers' World Championship debut wraps up an active summer for the Panther swimmer, who will hope to have her named once again on the U.S. roster for next summer's Paralympic Games in Paris. In early July, Chambers broke two S13 American records at the BLAST Summer Sizzler in Cedar Falls in the 400-meter individual medley and 200-meter butterfly. She also holds four American records in yards competition in the 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard butterfly, 50-yard backstroke and the 1,000-yard freestyle.
Last December, Chambers became UNI's first-ever Paralympic swimming national champion, winning the 400-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Championships in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her breakout performance also earned her Swimmer of the Meet honors by virtue of accumulating the best overall point total among competing swimmers.Â
Chambers' first international competition came last October at the Citi Para Swimming World Series event in Mexico, claiming silver in the 400-meter freestyle and bronze in the 100-meter butterfly. She also swam at the Para World Series meet in Minneapolis in April, winning bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke and 400-meter freestyle, while earning gold in the 200-meter individual medley.Â
An All-MVC honoree at the 2023 MVC Championships, Chambers took seventh place in the 1650-yard freestyle, and also placed 20th in the 500-yard freestyle with a personal best performance.Â
She is the daughter of Alison and Brad Chambers, and is currently majoring in biology.
With the summer season in the books, Chambers will return to training for the upcoming collegiate season with UNI, while also continuing to participate in para meets throughout the fall and winter. UNI will hold its Purple and Gold Intrasquad Scrimmage on Sept. 30 at the Glen F. Henry Pool in Cedar Falls before opening the 2023-24 season on the road on Oct. 6 at Iowa.
Players Mentioned
