Trio of Sunshine Coast swimmers claim victories at national multi-class swimming championships

USC Spartans’ Ben Hance is savouring his record-breaking effort at the national multi-class championships, for swimmers with disability, and he’s determined to get faster for the Paralympic trials.

The 20-year-old clocked a time of 58.88sec (1019 points) for the S14 100m backstroke, for swimmers with intellectual disability.

He eclipsed Ricky Betar’s time of 1:02.03 set in 2019.

Hance blitzed his opposition in the multi-class event at the Gold Coast, to claim the national title, before taking aim at the Tokyo selection meet at Adelaide in June.

“It’s really cool to be the fastest Australian and between now and trials I want to get even faster in the 100 back,” Hance said.

The Spartans, based at the University of Sunshine Coast, have enjoyed a strong meet.

Katja Dedekind showed strong form, claiming two gold medals.

She won the 100m backstroke multi-class event in 1:08.22 (896 points), to go with her win in the 50m freestyle multi-class.

“It’s pretty cool actually, I don’t really look at the medals too much, it’s more about the results, but to be able to touch first and also get a medal is pretty cool,” Dedekind said.

She competes in the S13 classification, for athletes with vision impairment.

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“I’ve just really been working on my swimming technique and keeping fit in all areas not just in the pool and in the gym.”

Kawana’s Liam Schluter showed his class, winning a couple of events.

The S14 swimmer won the 200m individual medley multi-class, when he clocked 2:14.60.

The Paralympic hopeful also touched the wall first in the 200m freestyle multiclass, notching 1:57.22.

There are several Sunshine Coasters at the national multi-class championships, the Australian age championships and the Australian championships during April.

Many of them are using it as preparation for Olympic and Paralympic trials in two months time, before the Games in July.