The spotlight remained on Mary Jibb during Tuesday’s races at the Para swimming world championships.
For a second consecutive day, the Canadian athlete took down one of Stephanie Dixon’s national records, this time in the women’s 100-metre butterfly S9 final.
Jibb, 18, clocked one minute 10.29 seconds for fifth at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore. Xu Jialing of China repeated as world gold medallist in 1:08.24, 25-100ths of a second ahead of Zsofia Konkoly (1:08.49) of the Netherlands. Australia’s Emily Beecroft (1:08.65) took bronze. Last summer, Konkoly and Beecroft also grabbed silver and bronze at the Paralympics in Paris.
Dixon clocked 1:11.04 in the 100 at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing when Jibb was one year old.
“I’m really happy with that race,” Jibb told Swimming Canada. “That was the plan, to go 1:10, maybe even 1:09,” said Jibb, who had posted a 1:11.44 personal best in the morning preliminaries.
“Despite the fast times from this morning, the plan was we were going to race the girls tonight, and I feel like I did a really good job of that. My backend speed was really good.
WATCH | Jibb sets another Canadian record at Para swimming worlds:
Mary Jibb sets Canadian record at the World Para Swimming Championships
“Looking at those times, six months ago, they seemed so big,” continued Jibb, the former Muskoka Aquatic Club member who moved to Surrey, B.C., last March to train under Jy Lawrence with the Pacific Sea Wolves.
Jibb, who was born and raised in Bracebridge, Ont., was seventh at the turn in Tuesday’s final, but fourth fastest coming home and climbed two spots over the final 50 metres.
WATCH | Jibb tops field in women’s 200m IM SM9 final on Monday:
Mary Jibb wins Canada’s 1st gold medal at the World Para Swimming Championships
She earned the first gold medal for Canada at these championships on Monday, lowering her Canadian and Americas record to 2:32.90 in the women’s 200 individual medley SM9 final.
Jibb suffered a stroke at age five that affected her right side. She began practising swimming as physiotherapy and it led to training for competitions.
Nick Bennett, Parksville, B.C. — 4th, men’s 100m breaststroke S14 (1:04.90)
Alec Elliott, Kitchener, Ont. — 7th, men’s 400 freestyle S10 (4:21.00, season best)
Jordan Tucker, Guelph, Ont. — 7th, women’s 50 fly S5 (54.46 seconds); 11th, women’s 150 individual medley SM4 (3:44.25)
Sebastian Massabie, Surrey, B.C. — 10th, men’s 50 fly S5 (36.27)
Reid Maxwell, St. Albert, Alta. — 10th, men’s 100 fly S8 (1:07.50)
WATCH | Full replay coverage of Day 3 evening events from Singapore:
World Para Swimming Championships Singapore 2025: Day 3 evening finals
