Russian swimmer Valeria Shabalina won gold on Tuesday at the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM14 classification competition.
Shabalina clocked the distance in 2 minutes 20.99 seconds to take the gold. The silver went to Bethany Firth of Great Britain (2 minutes 23.19 seconds) and the bronze was packed by her teammate Louise Fiddes (2 minutes 29.21 seconds).
Today’s win brought Shabalina her 3rd gold of the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Japan. She previously coined the gold in the women’s 100-meter butterfly S14 classification competition and in the women’s 200-meter freestyle S14 classification event.
Shabalina is 26 years old and she is the five-time world champion and six-time European champion. She started trainings in swimming in 2002 in the Russian Urals city of Chelyabinsk and also attempted to try her abilities in the sport of figure skating. Shabalina is on the roster of the Russian national Paralympic team since 2014.
The 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Japan’s Tokyo are being held between August 24 and September 5, 2021. In March 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced their decision to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan for one year due to the continuous COVID-19 spread.
As of today, the Russian national team of Para athletes in Tokyo - participating as Team RPC (the Russian Paralympic Committee) due to international sanctions against Russian sports - boasts 24 gold, 14 silver and 33 bronze medals. Team RPC is currently 3rd in the overall medal count following China (59-37-31), the Great Britain (29-23-26).
